REVIEW: THE LONDON MOTHERS at Space Arts Centre 25 Feb - 1 Mar

“a window onto an unknown world.” ★★

Three young London-based friends: Mary, Doreen and Gladys, count in unison the day since their last period. In the confusion of air raids  - we’re in the early 1940s - these women all have to deal with the emotional bomb that explodes in their own lives - that of an unexpected pregnancy. This is a predicament to be navigated by all three, all in very different circumstances - in terms of their prospective relationships. While Mary and Doreen are evacuated to the grand and stately Willersley Castle in Derbyshire, complete with high teas, frolicking lambs and fresh eggs, Gladys, a single mother remains in London where she will eventually give birth in a Mother & Baby Hospital.

It may come as a surprise that women were getting pregnant and giving birth during the Second World War when most of the men were away fighting. While we’re aware of the mass child evacuations out of the big cities into the countryside, this is a lesser known part of social and women’s history - one that The London Mothers, brought to you by Fanciful Flock Theatre, a new female led theatre company made up of recent drama graduates, seeks to spotlight. With a set that features sandbags and suitcases, The Space in the Isle of Dogs is the ideal location for this play, itself a survivor of the World War Two air raids, when nearly all of its surroundings were flattened.

The three central performers: Georgie Kay as Gladys; Roxanne Deireux as Mary and Çian Rouf as Doreen are in time- appropriate costume and spend lots of time chattering about their hopes, dreams and concerns. The tone of The London Mothers is light and warm and focuses primarily on the friendship between the three women. The seismic shift that comes with motherhood that will take them all in different directions and change their lives forever, has the upbeat banter of an Ealing Comedy,  complete with chirrupy Cockney accents, that were sometimes hard to hear. 

Directed by Gina Luker-Edwards and written by Heidi Luker, much of the source material is drawn from newspaper archives and interviews with midwives from Willersley Castle and some of the Willersley Babies. While the darkness and chaos of war is well represented technically by Beth Scott, the absolute fear and dread of new motherhood in an uncertain world is sidelined. The physicality and viscerality of childbirth, its own horror, is dramatically approached with kid gloves.

The London Mothers was first commissioned by Beam & Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Sites to draw attention to London Mothers and those not fortunate enough to be evacuated -which it most certainly does. This rich and worthy topic for dramatic exploration has bags of potential for further development but arguably requires tighter, more focused emphasis on the central experience, that of pregnancy and motherhood. Nonetheless, this is an opportunity to look through a window into a fascinating and largely unknown world. 

THE LONDON MOTHERS by Heidi Luker

The Space Arts Centre

until 1 March 2025

Box Office https://space.org.uk/event/the-london-mothers/