Seven Ages of Mam – Viking Theatre – Review
by Frank L

Seven Ages of Mam – written by Mark Evans and Pauline O’Driscoll

Helpfully, the programme note sets out an extract from “As You Like It” by Shakespeare, from Act II, Scene vii, beginning with the words “All the world is a stage”. That famous speech talks about the seven ages of man. But the principal subject is “man”; the subject of Evans and O’Driscoll’s play is “Mam”.

O’Driscoll is the Mam, and she is in her kitchen. It is her habitat, and there is a small kitchen table and a chair with a mixing bowl and some flour on the table. She is about to prepare yet another meal and yells upstairs for some help from her children, of which there are two, it subsequently transpires. There is, of course, no response. She talks about them, and of their strengths and weaknesses. She talks about their coming into the world. She talks about her husband, who was in the army. She talks about a dalliance which she regrets and her husband’s reaction. In short, she covers the ups and downs of a middle-aged woman as she reflects upon her life. But she does so from the point of view of a mam. She reflects philosophically on her own mam and what a great woman she was as she managed everything, and of her mam before her, too, a whole succession of mams who are now forgotten. There are moments of private grief, but there are many more moments of joy punctuated by yet another cry for one of the children to come down and help. It is a thoughtful but wonderfully, at times, funny reflection of the role of a mam. She is constantly multitasking, but she, too, has her own private life upon which she also reflects.

O’Driscoll is the co-writer of this insightful single-hander. She is absolutely at home in her kitchen as she remembers the happenings within her family, but also her own hidden life. She is in confessional mode. She permits us to hear some of her secrets about which she rarely speaks, if ever. O’Driscoll has the necessary acting skills of empathy and humour to bring this multifaceted “mam” to life. She does so with passion, humour and a great deal of self-awareness. It is a fine performance.

O’Driscoll and Evans have reimagined with insight Shakespeare’s universal text and created a joyous hymn of praise to the universal mam. This is a story that needs to be told, and O’Driscoll does so with love. Evans and O’Driscoll have created a first-rate theatrical piece which pays due homage to Shakespeare as the inspiration. But more importantly, they pay homage to the unsung hero or heroine, which is the universal “mam”.

Written by Mark Evans & Pauline O’Driscoll
Performed by Pauline O’Driscoll
Directed by Tom Kibbe