More Theater Monday - My Mother's Funeral: The Show

We received complimentary tickets to My Mother's Funeral: The Show for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: My Mother's Funeral: The Show

Where: SoHo Playhouse

            15 Vandam St.

When: This event took place from 1/4/25 - 1/25/25

Playwright, Abigail does not even have enough money to collect her mother's body from the hospital and give her a property funeral so she writes a play regarding a woman in a similar situation so she can sell it to a theater group and raise the money she needs. However, she is a little too close to her subject matter. Thus. when the theater wants too many changes to make her play "sellable", she is torn between betraying her mother by letting them change her character too much or betraying her mother by not giving her the funeral she deserves.

This is an extremely thoughtful play. It shines a light on the class divide in today's society and how it is so wide that even in death it still exists. It takes place in England where even if you are poor apparently you can get help with matters like these. Thus, even if your relative doesn't get the kind of funeral that you or they think they deserve at least you are helped to give them some kind of dignified send-off. Here in America where we don't even have that, thus, the situation is even worse.

Nicole Sawyerr who starred as Abigail gave a heartbreaking performance as a woman struggling with both her grief and her inability to do right by her mother. Any audience member in an equally precarious financial situation could so easily put themselves in her shoes although that may have been triggering for some people.  The rest of the cast, Samuel Armfield as Abigail's brother Darren and the head of the theater and Debra Baker as her mother and an actress playing her mother, also performed well in their roles although Nicole was clearly the standout. 

And that's our view. To learn about the remaining shows in this year's Fringe Encore Series at SoHo Playhouse, go to www.sohoplayhouse.com/theatre

Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.

Photo credits:

All My Mother's Funeral the Play production photos by Nicola Young

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms and are used by permission. If there is a problem with the rights to any image,  contact us here, and we will look into the matter.