Mother Bare is, as promised, a stand-up show about motherhood. Denise Scott delivers a polished performance covering topics like childbirth, ‘the talk’ and cross-dressing parents.
With a background of illustrative family snapshots, Scott takes the audience from her own childhood, through university and meeting her partner, and on to giving birth and dealing with her own mother in her old age.
Scott paints a hilarious picture of her early home life, talking with equal-parts admiration and acerbity about her mother’s no nonsense approach to child rearing. She pokes fun at the poor advice given to her by several male medical professionals. As she moves from subject to subject, she brings her trademark balance between cheerful demeanor and sharp observation.
During all this, the audience is her ally. She talks to them as people who have shared similar experiences and this is very successful. The phrase ‘the miracle of the epidural’ gets a particularly lively response from the crowd and Scott is able to play off this to beautiful effect. There’s plenty of audience interaction and an ongoing set of asides to a young man in the front row, explaining concepts like the uterus and CDs. Needless to say, this young chap is not part of the mothers’ club, but Scott’s gentle teasing is more fun than cruel.
Highlights include a re-enactment of a race toward the toilet in the hospital post-natal ward, a reminiscence about the joys of a quiet morning smoke in the backyard, and her brutal honesty about how disappointing it can be to watch your career flounder while being stuck at home with the kids.
The most touching section comes toward the end, as Scott talks about her mother’s Alzheimer’s and having to move her out of the family home. She is able to make this quite moving without losing sight of the overall humor and levity of the night.
Mother Bare is another funny show from Denise Scott, with the humor firmly grounded in real life.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Mother Bare
Written and performed by Denise Scott
Arts Theatre, Angas St
Adelaide Fringe
www.adelaidefringe.com.au
18 – 23 February
