Backstroke, Donmar Warehouse Review
Celia Imrie in Backstroke. Photo by Johan Persson.
Written by Chelsea for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Content warnings: talk of abortion, death, dementia, strokes and sudden bursts of noise.
Anna Mackmin’s, Backstroke, is a new play about a mother-daughter relationship through time.
The play explores the relationship between a free spirit mother, Beth, and her more stoic daughter Bo. First, we find ourselves in a hospital room where Beth lies silent after suffering a stroke. Bo comes in flustered by her life at home, but still tries to be present in the room with her mother. The play then jumps from scene to scene through their lives together from Bo as a small child of 6 learning to swim, to an adult organising her mother’s chaotic home.
There is a backdrop of film clips that periodically pop in to show moments of Bo struggling with her adoptive daughter at home. Although a neat idea for the stage, they don’t really work alongside the atmosphere of the rest of the play. Every time a clip pops up it distracts from the action of the play and you miss moments of acting that are enough to convey what the character is internally thinking.
The shifting from past to present also doesn’t help the plot line. It gets confusing and one becomes unsure of what the writer wants to say. It feels discombobulated and like Mackmin might have had too many ideas that made sense in her mind, but were not executed well.
That being said, the play does have some really beautiful moments. Although a little late in the play, there is a scene which gives the play its name where Beth is teaching Bo to float in the pool and let go of her surroundings. It is a moving scene with jokes, care and trust that I think encapsulates the foundation of their relationship.
Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie are wonderful as Bo and Beth. They perfectly capture the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship. How you can be driven mad by each other but also love the other so deeply that you can’t help but smile in hard times. Tamsin in particular shows her acting chops having to jump from herself as a little child to the adult mother to her own child. You feel each age deeply from scene to scene and know exactly where she is in life before even being told.
Backstroke is a moving piece of theatre in terms of relationship complexities, but it does feel as if it needed a few more weeks in the writer’s room.
At Donmar Warehouse until 12 April 2025
★ ★ ★
