Review: Mum Club at Downstairs Belvoir (Griffin)
Review by Carly Fisher
Mum Club arrives at a particularly charged moment for conversations about motherhood, belonging and the communities we build around raising children. A play that examines those subjects and asks us to interrogate our own assumptions and biases is definitely compelling but for all its potential, this production left me impressed by the performances but not overly persuaded by the writing.
Motherhood is supposed to take a village. In Mum Club, the village comes with a set of rules, a collection of wellness obsessions and an alarming amount of judgement. For Sadie, a young Yuin mother who has recently moved to Sydney, finding her people should be a lifeline. Instead, it becomes another exhausting exercise in navigating expectations, identity and the often impossible business of being a good mum.
Written by Jorjia Gillis and directed by Ian Michael, Mum Club is an ambitious new work that takes aim at the contradictions of contemporary motherhood. It is interested in the loneliness that can exist within a hyperconnected world, the pressure to perform the right kind of parenting, and the complicated question of what we are prepared to overlook in order to belong. These are important conversations, particularly in a cultural landscape still working through the legacies of the Voice debate and the ongoing need to listen more carefully to First Nations experiences.
There is plenty to admire in Gillis’s premise. Sadie’s search for connection provides a compelling entry point into a community where good intentions and genuine understanding do not always align. The play has an eye for the absurdity of modern parenting culture, and its characters are recognisable enough to provoke both laughter and uncomfortable recognition. Yet, while the ideas at its centre are worthy of attention, the script struggles to sustain the weight of those ideas across its running time.
The writing initially moves with a pleasing confidence, shifting between sharp observations and broad comedy. As the evening progresses, however, the humour becomes increasingly silly, and the play’s tonal journey begins to feel less deliberate than it should. What starts as a clever examination of social expectations gradually loses some of its bite, with comic diversions that do little to deepen the central concerns. The production has something meaningful to say, but the script does not always trust its own subject matter enough to let it resonate.
This is particularly frustrating because the performers bring considerable energy and commitment to the material. Stephanie Somerville leads the company as Sadie, giving the character a grounded emotional presence amid the escalating chaos. She brings warmth, vulnerability and a clear understanding of the exhaustion that accompanies new motherhood, ensuring that Sadie remains more than a vehicle for the play’s arguments. Even when the writing becomes less convincing, Somerville provides a persuasive centre.
Alex Malone, Megan Wilding, Ruby Teys and Zarif complete the ensemble, taking on the various personalities and peculiarities of the Mum Club. There is a generous sense of play in their performances, and the cast demonstrates an impressive ability to move between the everyday and the heightened. Their work is lively and committed, even when the characters themselves can feel more like comedic archetypes than fully developed people. The production is at its strongest when these performers are allowed to find the human detail beneath the satire.
The design by Cris Baldwin is another success. The set creates a convincing domestic environment while offering the flexibility required for the play’s many locations and shifts in focus. In the intimate Downstairs Theatre, the space feels appropriately close and lived-in, a setting that can accommodate both the comforts and claustrophobia of early parenthood. There are a considerable number of set and prop pieces to manage, and while some transitions feel clunky, the production team does an admirable job of keeping the action moving within the limitations of the space.
What makes Mum Club worthwhile is not that it provides easy answers, but that it opens up questions about the communities mothers are expected to find, create and maintain. It asks who gets welcomed into those spaces, whose experiences are treated as universal, and what happens when the desire to belong comes at the cost of being fully oneself. Those questions deserve a place on our stages, and Gillis’s play is an important contribution to that conversation.
Unfortunately, the production’s length works against it. At approximately 90 minutes without an interval, it is not an especially long evening of theatre, but the script would have benefited from a sharper edit. The central ideas are strong enough to sustain a more focused work that still allowed for the comedy to flourish but without spiralling into the absurd.
Mum Club is a production with a strong purpose and a talented company, and its subject matter is both timely and necessary. While the script ultimately lost my interest, the performances and design offer much to appreciate. I hope that it prompts mums to find their people and those of us who have lots of mum friends to show up constructively, supportively and consistently.
