Arts Club Theatre

(Granville Island, Vancouver)

Mom's the Word

Playing through June 27th

Tickets: (604) 687-1644

MOM'S THE WORD : A MUST SEE FOR MOMS AND DADS

By Ed Farolan

The cast of this international hit comedy has returned to their roots here in Vancouver and will be performing at the Arts Club Theatre for the entire month of June. Created by six performer moms, Linda A. Carson, Jill Daum, Alison Kelly, Robin Nichol, Barbara Pollard and Deborah Williams, MOM'S THE WORD delighted Vancouverites on opening night (their 500th performance) with their 90 minutes of laugh-filled and tearful anecdotes and confessions of motherhood. The production company has been travelling from Melbourne, Australia (where the show was re-named "Mum's the Word") to London (Ontario) this year.

The original Moms were substituted by other Australian Moms, a group of well-known Australian actors who took over after the Vancouver Moms left Melbourne. Apparently, in the Arts Club production, two other moms, Susinn McFarlen and Joan Maclean, have taken the roles of Linda Carson and Barbara Pollard.

My wife was with me when we saw this performance, and the play had more of an impact on her more than it did me, she, being like most typical moms of two kids. I asked her what she thought, and she said "Nabuwisit ako" (I felt disgusted), not of the show, but of her emotional reaction as she identified with the common thread of suffering and anguish that moms go through with their children. As a husband, I found some of the scenes not applicable to me, yet it made me more aware of what moms go through, taking care of the kids while all we care about is bringing food on the table, and a roof over our heads, the typical, traditional male role.

The acting of all six performers was close to excellent. There were just a few areas when voice projection was low (I was sitting at the back), particularly when the sadder, low-keyed lines were said by some actreeses. Also, I would have wanted to know which actress played which mom so that, as a critic, I could have identified them with their names, instead of saying: "That naked mom was hilarious" or "The actress with the eyeglasses was stupendous".

The production set inspired by how a typical daycare centre looks like with all the colourful blocks and boxes full of toys was well thought of, as well as the use of an "overhead" screen projecting the nostalgic pictures. All in all, there were more laughs than tears, which is good, this time of the year, to make this Spring/Summer production something moms and dads should definitely go out and see.