Gina McKee stars in Florian Zeller’s piece of what happens after your children have grown up and leave you with an empty house. The production at the Tricycle Theatre officially opened last night. 

The Telegraph: *** Serena Davies wrote: “McKee’s performance is bracing and intense but it’s unsympathetic.”

Evening Standard: **** Henry Hitchings found it: “a profoundly disorientating experience — mischievous, funny, sad and wise.”

London Theatre.co.uk: ***** Mark Shenton commented: “Laurence Boswell’s unmissable production, which originated at Bath’s Ustinov Theatre, could well follow The Father to the West End (where it is about to have its second run there) from the Tricycle.”

Whatsonstage: **** Michael Coveney thought it was: “just as captivating and remarkable a play as its companion piece, The Father.” 

The Stage: ***** “The character of the Mother is played with an open and searing vulnerability by McKee.”

Kilburn Herald:***** Dave Springfield called it: “A real and memorable treat. More French drama, s’il vous plait.”

British Theatre Guide: Philip Fisher wrote: “The Mother never quite achieves the coherence of The Father but is still a fascinating example of contemporary European drama.”

Time Out: ****Tom Wicker summed the production up by saying: “Laurence Boswell’s stylish production, with its impassive minimalism, captures both the emptiness and funnelling of Anne’s life to a single point of despair as the play progresses.”

The Guardian: **** Michael Billington thought: “Even if the play is overshadowed by its successor, it offers a poignant, deeply Freudian study of a mind on the edge of breakdown.”

Overall verdict: a strong piece of drama about one woman’s breakdown as her children grow up and leave home. Features an excellent performance from Gina McKee as the central character. 

The Mother runs at the Tricycle Theatre until the 5th March 2016. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.tricycle.co.uk/current-programme-pages/theatre/theatre-programme-main/the-mother/ .