See it if You want to hear a beautiful story/monologue about the importance of honoring people as they are passing on /dying.
Don't see it if You don't care for one person shows Read more
See it if You want to se a moving, sad, and realistic portrait of a woman watching her mother decline from Alzheimer’s for 7 years.
Don't see it if If you have lost someone through dementia, this play can trigger your sadness.
See it if Middle-aged Irish daughter works through her grief by delivering poetic monologue of caretaking the mother who once was taking care of her.
Don't see it if Peculiar use of stage set/props and choice not to reach catharsis by raging above a thickly accented whisper, distances the lament. Read more
See it if A torrent of words, words, words (both poetic & purple) imbues Mahon's monodrama about her mother's demise via dementia w/an abject ferocity
Don't see it if Mahon has chosen to never raise her vocal quality/demeanor causing a near Becket-like stance It often strips any emotionality out of piece
See it if If you want a play about a daughter taking care of her mother for 7 years. Resonant and real good at times.
Don't see it if Thick accent makes it difficult to here at times. If you want a lite humorous play.
See it if you want an uplifting one-person performance about death, Alzheimer's, and mental health issues. Much of the language is poetic.
Don't see it if The Irish accent and colloquialisms made it challenging to follow at times. Given the topic, there was not much emotion.
See it if You allow yourself to be moved by stories of alzheimers. And you can focus on a very harsh brogue, with lots of quick flowing monologues.
Don't see it if YOu don't like a one man show or are uncomfortable with the topice.
See it if you like one-person bio, filled w/humor, pathos, love. Wandering story (time/place), told in heavy accent. Requires constant attn.
Don't see it if you want polished, creative staging. Doll used as major prop. Movt in-out of cupboard. Freqt snippets of music. Not for me, but aud liked it
"When Daughter Becomes Mother in The Scourge: Michelle Dooley Mahon's solo play at Irish Rep recounts her experiences caring for her mother during her battle with Alzheimer's."
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"Mahon's voice seldom rises above a mezzo forte and she frequently delivers entire passages in a voice barely louder than a whisper. But she doesn't need volume to make her point. It's with her words that she heals herself and, by extension, she heals us too."
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"LIGHT AND DARK: Michelle Dooley Mahonshows a gift for painting evocative pictures with words in her worthwhile solo show."
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Score: 92% "The brutally honest self-observation, the wit, lilt, and poetry of her language is a draw that brings the audience into the over-stuffed wardrobe of Michelle and her experiences and lets the love that gets buried under the mess of life get exposed."
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