Review: Motherland at Live Theatre, Newcastle

Sep 23 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

It’s not all about death: some characters reflect on life with still-serving soldiers or those who return home injured. But it’s the dignified accounts of that dreaded knock on the door, for instance, or of the soldier killed last in his group by a mob ambush at Basra police station which are the most affecting.

In making so painfully real these ordinary people, forced to cope when life is changed irrevocably, the play has certainly done its duty.

Many of the real women behind the stories were among the audience when the play ended its two-night run there on Friday – ahead of a UK tour – and, tellingly, they gave the cast a standing ovation.

Motherland was a hit at Edinburgh Fringe last year, where it won a clutch of awards, and it cannot fail to strike a similar chord with audiences across the country as it embarks on its tour - with local appearances at Darlington Arts Centre next Tuesday and Washington Arts Centre next Wednesday.