Director Paul Robinson and Producer Tara Finney have announced the formation of Tiny Fires Ltd. Paul and Tara are behind the critically acclaimed Land Of Our Fathers which transferred to Trafalgar Studios in September 2014.
Paul and Tara have worked together on a number of shows over the last three years and have set up the new company to continue their successful collaboration.
Their inaugural production, My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley is a moving exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters and the consequences of breaking the most sacred taboo of motherhood. Doris, born illegitimate in 1900, exchanges her budding teaching career for marriage and motherhood. After the war, her daughter Margaret marries an American and they have a daughter, Jackie, who becomes an archetypal 60s rebel. When Jackie can’t face being a single mother, it is decided that her baby, Rosie, will be brought up as Margaret’s daughter.
Keatley’s play is about the choices we make which determine the course of our lives and how it is never too late to change. Looking at the social and professional place of women, it explores the belief that being a mother is at odds with being a professional success. This is a powerful story of love and jealously between mothers and daughters told through the stories of four generations of women.
This production of My Mother Never Said I Should will be the first revival of Charlotte Keatley’s play award-winning debut play in 25 years. The play is the most performed play ever by a female playwright and has recently entered the GCSE English curriculum.
Director Paul Robinson says, I have wanted to direct My Mother Said for over fifteen years. It’s a timeless and universal play and, unbelievably, it’s the most performed play ever by a female playwright. It’s got four incredible female characters and of course it’s a play about women but not exclusively. It’s really about the Larkin truism that “they f*** you up your mum and dad, they may not mean to but they do…” but it improves it. The play suggests that, while it’s incredibly hard, we can break the generational cycles of abuse in which we become trapped.
My Mother Said I Never Should will run at the St James Theatre from 13th April – 21 May 2016.
