In this season of 90s revivalism – the fashion, FRIENDS on Netflix, the Jumanji remake – My Mum’s A Twat fits right in. The set has truly ramped up the kitsch – there are beanbags for the audience to sit on, and the set is littered with tapes, troll dolls, and photo collages. Dinky electronic music is wryly played on a tiny Casio keyboard as the audience enters, the set arranged so that we walk straight into Girl’s (Patsy Ferran) bedroom. This sets the tone for the rest of the play – Ferran delivers the story straight to us, inviting us into her life and world. Although billed as being about losing her mum to a cult, this is, at its heart, a coming-of-age story, with the vintage soundtrack to match. There is plenty of lingering eye contact with the audience as she delivers searingly honest insights into her experimentations with drugs, boys, and pranks on older siblings.
Ferran’s delivery is almost ubiquitously direct, matter-of-fact, the carefully-mannered blasé attitude of the teenager she is embodying. It’s funny enough for the roll-call of odd family anecdotes that compile the play, but by far and away the best moments are when she lets that guard down. Girl’s grief and trauma leak through her confident shell, providing some much-needed affecting and nuanced moments. Ferran is consistent throughout, although there are moments when the audience can see her communicating with the sound team, which is somewhat distracting.
Some of the stories we are told feel a bit overly detailed, and the play is at least 20 minutes too long. But this is a solid debut from writer Anoushka Warden, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.