My mum's a Tw*t - Royal Court

Ohhh, the Nolan Principles is a thing? That explains a LOT about Bill Kenwright's Blood Brothers casting policy...

I still find it hard to fathom that the Royal Court thought it was a good idea to stage a play by an employee. Especially one who has no previous stage credits, and who is yet to write any dialogue or create a dramatic character other than herself. It would have to be something quite exceptional in order to justify such progamming...and the reviews, also written by work colleagues, aren't good enough to convince me that that's the case. I suppose they're better reviews than those Goats received, but following the Rita Sue mess...it would be nice for the conversation to be about the actual plays...and not everything surrounding them...

I get that it's not the first time this has happened at the Court, but The Pride was well received and, later on, successfully revived. Though perhaps My Mum's a Tw*t will be too one day...possibly performed by Glenda Jackson...?

Only on TheatreBoard would anyone suggest that a theatre shouldn't work with its Associate Artists.

The only thing that bothers me about what Warden's day job is and where the play is being produced is the comment in the Guardian interview that it "barely needed revising". Having seen the show, it needed SO much revising! It was all over the place and needed a lot of tweaking and shaping to turn it into something less unwieldy and scattershot. Patsy Ferran is a marvel, the set is a joy, the piece itself could have been exceptional, but it falls a little short.

Ferran is brilliant. The monologue is OK. I kept wanting to hear the mother’s story. The piece is entertaining enough if quite slight. OK way to spend an afternoon.

Consider me thoroughly manipulated. I thought this was insightful, and absolutely delightful, although I'll concede that for me, Patsy Ferran can do no wrong, and any show where Patsy Ferran raps is a must-see, regardless.

Some spoilers follow. . .

The monologue itself, I loved, and I think it's underestimated, probably because it lacks the twists that you'd normally expect in a well-constructed story. Nonetheless, I loved it for the following reasons:-

(1) the plot, about a mother's love being transferred from her daughter to a cult is fascinating, in and of itself;

(2) the subplot, reading between the lines, about whether the mother was ever really capable of love in the first place, is equally fascinating;

(3) the storytelling is intriguing, immediate and easy to follow, and full of worldbuilding detail, involving Argos page numbers, Kanye West lyrics and David Jason idolisation, etc,

(4) there is so much humour, partly generated by vivid characterisation, whereby the lead character's mischievous motivation of perpetually "covering" [her] tracks" results in multiple mini comic triumphs amid a wider sadness; and partly from wry observations (eg: On losing her virginity, the character says something like "I was relieved it didn't hurt, though years later I realised that might have been a size issue");

(5) the use of amusing teenage overstatement, whereby a hated stepfather is amusingly only referred to as "moron," is constantly contrasted and undercut by desperately sad understatement, regarding the heinous neglect of the mother.

I saw this last Saturday matinee, and the show is still living with me in a way it just wouldn't if the writing was underpar.

Acted by Patsy Ferran, this show is really quite wonderful, though maybe more wonderful if you share my view that Patsy Ferran rapping harder than Hamilton is one of the funniest things in the world.

4 stars

I thought the music is all cued by the Girl as part of her presentation to us of her story. It all illustrates the detail of what she's telling us, so that we all get every point. Similarly, the sudden lighting cues and the bursts of movement and dance.

I saw it this afternoon and really enjoyed it, though I agree there's room for improvement in the play itself (shape and structure in the latter part, though the voice is always vivid). I thought Patsy Ferran was wonderful. The front row beanbags were very comfortable, btw - have they used them before?

Really? When I Google it, I just see pages relating to the show.

I thought this was great. Very funny and Patsy was wonderful.

Indeed, I'd suggest you're both making the same point.