The Mother Sh*t – Pleasance Theatre, London

Writers: Stumble Trip Theatre

Directors: Izzy Robey and Alice Chambers

People’s relationship with their mothers – and their mothers’ relationship with them – come under a broadly comedic, and occasionally emotional, spotlight from Stumble Trip Theatre.

Led by Lecoq-trained physical comedians Grace Church and Chloe Young, who perform various comedic mime routines accompanied by an a cappella three-piece, The Mother Sh*t starts by exploring familiar tropes of young motherhood, from clingy babies to overbearing mums. Routines quickly skip through lifetimes, from surly teenagers shrugging off their parents in favour of going out with their friends, only to return and have to care for elderly and infirm mothers.

While these life touchstones are familiar enough to risk cliché, the light comedic touch throughout, combined with Church and Young’s acrobatic abilities, keeps such observations fresh. That feeling is reinforced by Conrad Murray, Dunja Botic and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens’ singing and beatboxing, weaving in many a familiar lyric amongst the acoustic rhythms.

Not all mother-child relationships are happy, though, and while The Mother Sh*t does not wish to dwell on that side of parenting too much, it is at least acknowledged. More often, though, Church and Young prefer to keep matters light, such as a sequence where they play video characters in a beat ‘em up video game, with players scrolling through different stereotypes of motherhood. It’s a fast-paced collage of observational physical comedy that can’t fail to lift the mood.

But The Mother Sh*t is not just about the physical comedy, with excerpts from interviews conducted with people about their relationship with their mothers dotted throughout. And most effectively, a live piece of storytelling from Lynch-Stevens involves the performer detailing a tale about her mother, brought over to London from Grenada by her own mother, leaving the love of her life behind.

As Lynch-Stevens relates a holiday she took with her mother back to the Caribbean and the possibility it raised of the young lovers being reunited, the delight and pride the performer shows in seeing “the child inside” her mother, the teenager she had really been instead of the image she presented to the world, there’s a real sense of tenderness which plays well against the silliness which otherwise dominates.

As with many shows that are comprised of short sketches and vignettes, there’s no real sense of conclusion to The Mother Sh*t. As the cast take their bows and perform a short encore number, one is left wanting more of this sweet, silly, occasionally poignant physical comedy.

Continues until 19 November 2022