The Good Enough Mum’s Club Mast Mayflower Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Maddie Reynolds

Utterly brilliant show…. Does come with a warning as covers

Content about motherhood can be very Difficult and even triggering.  The show Covers Postpartum Depression, Postpartum

Psychosis, Child Loss, Racism, Loneliness, References to birth.  When we arrived at the Mayflower Mast, there was a sign up telling us that this could be a trigger for some and if at any time we needed to leave the theatre, we just needed to let a member if staff know.

it’s a lovely theatre that supports multi culture art clubs within the community and works across all aspects of performing arts.  This is my second time seeing a show here and I love that it is supporting groups that come from a range of different backgrounds that have stories to tell through music and dance.

We arrived at the Mayflower Mast at 7.30 and went upstairs to the bar to get some drinks.  They offer a range of drinks and bar snacks with lots of seating around the area.  We were seated in the stalls in row F.  It’s a small theatre but there is plenty of leg room and space between aisles.

The Good Enough Mums Club musical was originally coming from the Book Writer Lyricist, Emily Beecher, who was diagnosed with postnatal depression when her daughter Maisie was 10 months.  As she wrote about her own experiences, during her time with her therapist she also began looking for others who had similar experiences and to her surprise she found many women struggled with motherhood but felt the same as her.  Over the years they have collected their stories and turned into a hilarious musical comedy.

As we took to our seats, the stage set was set up as a toddler group would be in a hall and was very realistic.  The different areas of the stage were also used as the mother’s houses and the whole set was very cleverly used.  The show started off with the 5 mothers’ coming onto the stage pregnant and singing about their journey to pregnancy and all the tubulations along the way.  Each women played a character who had a story to tell and this unfolded throughout the show, they all needed the toddler group to support them and help them through, when they thought they were not good enough, when the local council send a letter to tell them are closing the community play group they set out to find a way to keep it running.

Throughout the show there were so many laugh out loud moments, we laughed so much that are stomachs hurt, but there were some very poignant moments in which most of us could probably relate to from when we were pregnant, it’s a very funny musical and shows about the support these 5 mother’s gave to each other.  It captures us from the start and explores real life topics and experiences.

Each character was played by a mother, and they all carried the show well, they played the characters of their children as well, changing from comforting their children to suddenly being on the floor and acting out as a toddler, the choreography was superb and captured every moment and mother goes through from comforting her child, and playing games, as well as trying to be normal and have adult conversations.

The vocal arrangements were well played and all blended so well together and so unpredictably quirky and entertaining.

My favourite song was the one about all the TV characters, and we were all crying so much with laughter as they took us through the journey of the TV characters and how unrealistic it was that in the real world this would happen.

I would give this show a rating of 5 out 5.
If you need a night out of laughter then this one to see and so cleverly put together.
Its currently touring the Uk, so could be coming to a theatre near you.
The Good Enough Mum’s Club is playing at Mast Mayflower until 23rd November and has 2 shows left there before it moves on to it’s next destination.
Tickets can be booked here MAST Mayflower Studios | Southampton

https://www.mayflowerstudios.org.uk/what-s-on/the-good-enough-mums-club-2022/

Rating: 5/5