Product Description

'In its revelation of mother-daughter emotions over the years, the play is without rivals. It is a classic' The Times 'This is a landmark play. The theatrical equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile; like Caryl Churchill's Top Girls, pointing the way for the next generation of playwrights in form and content' Guardian Charlotte Keatley's first main stage play My Mother Said I Never Should was premiered in 1987 at Contact, Manchester, and in 1989 at the Royal Court Theatre, London. It has been translated into twenty-two languages and is performed across the world. The play moves back and forth through the lives of four women, and sets the enormous social changes of the twentieth century against the desire to love and to be loved. In 2000 it was chosen by the Royal National Theatre as one of the hundred Significant Plays of the Twentieth Century. Commentary and notes by Charlotte Keatley.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64573 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Dramatically Sound.
It would be true to say that "My Mother Said..." is not a popular text between members of the Dramatic Teaching Establishment. "It's been over used, over studied", they say. While this may be true, so is Shakespeare, and I don't see too many critisizing him in the profession. Keatley's play dealing with three generations of women, shows us what I would describe as some of the greatest use of Subtext I have seen in a dramatic work. To say the play was merely ambiguos in places would not do it justice. There are so many layers of detail you can miss on first reading. I find each time I come back to the play I find some new point, some new paralel. So some may call it "old hat, feminist nonsense," but this is a play which goes past gender. It has a relavance to all society and the ills of time and progression of the generations. And I happen to like it.

a fantastic range of characters and emotions
I love this play! The strong female characters represent how hugely dramatic the lifes of 'ordinary' women have been. The way the play jumps from different periods in time, gives this fantastic range of characters and emotions. the monologues connect you with the characters as they share secrets and parts of the story the other characters dont know. The connect throughout, of mother and daughter emphasises the relationship between love and jealousy, this relationship also carries on throughout the child scenes, portrayed in there game playing. My emotions were up and down like a rollercoaster, the powerful scenes created at least one character that everyone could relate to.

Good play, bad book
I really enjoyed reading and performing the play, but the book itself has just fallen apart. I had only used it for a couple rehearsals before the pages started coming apart from the cover. I've now had to cover it with cello-tape as I'm so worried that i'll lose some of the pages. Even worse it's not only my copy thats coming apart, my friend bought the same version and hers has broken in two. The play is great, just not the edition!!