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Do You Know Where Your Daughter Is? by Angie Le Mar
Hackney Empire Studio Theatre
9 – 27 September, 2008
I
A review by Marion Drew for EXTRA! EXTRA!
This clearly well researched play explores in the minefield of mother-daughter relationships in the teenage years when they begin to bear the strain of a young woman trying to come into her own and assert herself. It looks at the consequences that occur when that relationship is nudged off-centre and an increasing involvement with a more streetwise, sexually active and often violent peer group becomes dominant. The well written script is full of slick, sassy, street lingo which rings consistently true throughout, and the verbal interplay provides an interesting window into teenage culture which seems at times to be depressingly lacking in anything that might be intellectually engaging, or that might exist beyond the ‘me’ of teenage life. Fragments of the script are presented on the black backdrop, letting us ‘in on’ text messages that are being sent, layering our theatrical experience a little. The group of young actresses does a very creditable job. Naomi Mogkatte as Mikki managing to make many women in the audience angry at her aggressive posturing, and Stephanie Edwin-Fisher as Yvette, the most rounded of the characters, doing particularly well. It was a pity that the characters often came across as quite stereotypical and the way in which the issues were addressed was neither subtle nor dealt with in any particular depth. However the play did begin to hint at the notion, through the character of Yvette that perhaps young women need to address the way they think about themselves. A measure of sympathy for mothers facing this unchartered territory of helping young women into adulthood in challenging and often quite dangerous contexts was also present, and it would have been interesting to have these fleshed out a little. There were also really great moments when, judging by their vocal responses, every woman in the predominantly female audience was directly identifying either with what it is to be a young girl on the brink of becoming sexually active, or what it takes to successfully mother her. Overall it is an enthusiastically performed, entertaining and gritty piece of theatre well worth a trip out, especially if you are in a mother-daughter partnership yourself.
All shows 7:40pm Tickets: £12, £10; Concs, Friends; £9.50, CAN; £10 Box Office: +44 (0)20 8985 2424 Hackney Empire 291 Mare Street
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