Southwark Playhouse Borough
Playing until 15 March 2025
Photo credit: Steve Gregson
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After going viral from calling her four-year old son Charlie a c*nt when aboard a long flight home, Marnie (Anna Morris) was publicly branded as a villain, a bad mum and the most recognisable bitch across the world.
Opening with the ten seconds seven words clip that led to Marnie’s downfall, the play jumps among the past, present and future of the event itself. Marnie has never been maternal in any shape or form and was pressurised into her marriage and motherhood by her friends and family, eventually settling down with a slightly older man, Jake. The impact of having her life uprooted, multiple miscarriages and a child that seems to be constantly misbehaving would eventually take its toll on even those with saintlike qualities, let alone a mother with a poor, and perhaps questionable, support system.
The script is well paced and builds up the momentum in the early parts of the show to give the audience the context, planting the seeds for the gasp moments that come in the last five to ten minutes of the show, both revelations could be described as betrayals. Despite the fact that she had an immediate breakdown, apologised profusely to her son, showing all the love a mother could give to her son straight after saying the c word, none of these are captured nor shown to the world. While the script and direction are slick and Morris plays the role well, some of the characters such as Marnie’s dad and friends other than Lucy add little beyond mild comedy or filler dialogues.
Morris, who also wrote the play, plays a frustrated woman, wife and mother, occasionally taking on the voice of others including her husband, parents and friends, as their voice resound in her head as she navigates through her life. This is clearly a woman affected by a huge number of emotions and yet lacks access to a desperately needed support environment. Among the various sequence of events, Morris masterfully musters the different emotions in the various roles, showing anger, frustration, confusion and remorse as the scenarios call for. The creative use of a screen by Megan Lucas for subtitles and visual effects add variety and more dynamics to a simple set, complementing the fact that the story takes place over different locales and the many characters voiced by Morris.
Virtual hands up, how many of you have judged somebody based on a short clip barely that barely exceeds 10 seconds? I know both of my hands are frantically waving, and I am ashamed by it. Son of a Bitch teaches us to never judge a book by its cover, or a person by a video clip.
Creatives
Writer: Anna Morris
Director: Madelaine Moore
Set Designer: Cory Shipp
Lighting and Creative Captioning Designer: Megan Lucas
Sound Designer: Ellie Isherwood
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