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Artist Man and the Mother Woman, The

"Of all human struggles there is none so treacherous and remorseless as the struggle between the artist man and the mother woman." Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw. Read more …

Geoffrey Buncher is an art teacher. Until now his only meaningful relationship has been with his mother Edie, who doesn't want her 'wee man growing up too fast'. One day he reads in the paper that he's working in amongst the top 10 sexiest professions. He decides it's time for change.

Now Geoffrey is old enough to buy his own Ribena, and it's time to find himself a wife.

Written in Morna Pearson's trademark "lurid, post-modern  Doric" (The Scotsman),The Artist Man and the Mother Woman is a wickedly funny, surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship.


The critical consensus

Although O’Loughlin fails to signal the enormity of individual actions, her smooth telling allows script and company to give space for mocking laughter - before throttling it and throwing it back in stunned silence.

Thom Dibdin, The Stage, 02/11/2012

Pearson’s text, brilliantly written in her local dialect of NE Scots, had the audience on board and roaring with laughter from the get go.

****(*)Irene Brown, Edinburgh Guide, 02/11/2012

At once hilarious and appalling.

****(*)David Kettle, The Edinburgh Reporter, 02/11/2012

Failing, by turns, in both comedy and tragedy (even if succeeding in its affectionate parody of Morayshire vernacular), this play is a curious main stage choice for recently appointed Traverse artistic director Orla O’Loughlin.

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 06/11/2012

It is subtly profound and intricate playwriting, blessed with confident, fresh direction which complements the wealth of ideas on offer.

****(*)Andrew Latimer, TVBomb, 06/11/2012

Just as the play is settling in as an enjoyable enough, if heavily caricatured, black comedy, the plot does an abrupt volte-face that takes it into tabloid territory, and the sensational ending, when it comes, feels less tragic than a sign that the plot has run out of steam.

***(*)(*)Allan Radcliffe, The List, 07/11/2012

Orla O'Loughlin allows the strangeness to be constrained by an overly literal set, but her cast, led by Garry Collins and Anne Lacey, are superb, rooting Pearson's ear for Doric poetry in a disturbingly credible world.

***(*)(*)Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 08/11/2012

O’Loughlin’s production is a triumph of brave, high-risk writing, magnificent acting and luridly heightened domestic design.

****(*)Joyce McMillan, 08/11/2012


Features about Artist Man and the Mother Woman, The

Acclaimed playwright Morna Pearson on The Artist Man and the Mother Woman

Mark Brown, The List, 08/10/2012

The Artist Man and the Mother Woman

Phil Gatt, The Skinny, 02/11/2012

Where and when?

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday October 30, 2012, until Saturday November 17, 2012. More info: www.traverse.co.uk

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