‘Mother Savage’ – Travelling Light Theatre Co. – The
Egg – February 2nd – 4th  7-30pm daily, 1pm Friday

Based on the short story by Guy de Maupassant, ‘Mother Savage’ is a grey snapshot of events in one small house, in occupied countryside, amidst the deprivation of war.  

A young enemy soldier is billeted in the cottage of an ageing woman whose son is away at the front.  At the very start, we are shown how the story ends, and then the action is rewound to the beginning, like a black and white film.

In this play, silence, music and movement are as eloquent as the words, for the two characters do not understand each other’s language.  Yet the story unfolds, like a dance, step by step, from a struggle for space and survival as the two pace around each other, to the human joy of discovering and sharing what crumbs remain when war has stripped life bare.  Amidst horror, there is music and laughter, making the tragedy of the story more poignant.  The programme tells us the play is a ‘love story’: it is about the possibility of love and the choices we have, even in war, to love or hate others.  

Travelling Light are in their twenty-first expert year of developing productions for (and with) young people; the 14+ audience can meet the actors and discuss the play’s themes with the company afterwards.  Whether or not you have a teenager to take you along, do see this stark and beautiful anti-war play.


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