A Conversation with Angela Witcher, director of Monster's Mother at Anywhere Festival

Next up on my local artists segment is Angela Witcher, the Artistic Director of InsideOutside Theatre Company and director of The Monster's Mother, playing at Anywhere Festival at the Spring Hill Reservoirs on the 22nd of May. Here's what she had to say...

VIRAG: Your show is making it's Brisvegas debut as part of Anywhere Festival this week. Why have you decided to share this work and these narratives now?

ANGELA: The Monster's Mother is a new work about motherhood inspired by my own recent life experience. I lost my Mum in the UK in January 2020 when I was already struggling to support my youngest son through an extremely rough time in his life. Grief and loss became part of daily life for so many people last year and I wanted to weave these themes with my own challenges and those of other mothers through their verbatim contributions into a compelling piece of theatre. The overwhelming narrative that emerged was that however difficult motherhood can be, even when a child is a monster, that monster is still yours.

VIRAG: What was the creative process like?

ANGELA: It was cathartic and a key part of my own recovery as my mental health had deteriorated. It began with a wonderful series of zoom workshops with a group of generous, like-minded women under the expert guidance of Margi Brown-Ash. These workshops resulted in a series of drawings, pieces of writing, a collage and the idea that would become the Monster's Mother.

Through sharing my idea with other creative minds the project started to grow and crystallise into something tangible. In our initial rehearsals we explored different techniques and processes to create the structure for telling a tale of motherhood. With original music adding extra layers and a fabulous troupe of actors bringing the characters to life we had a show.

VIRAG: What do you hope that the audience feels after viewing your work?

ANGELA: We actually performed the show twice on Bribie Island for the Moreton Bay leg of the Festival and the feedback was overwhelming. People, particularly women, could relate to what they had watched; some of them even shared their own stories with us in conversation afterwards. I don't think we can wish for anything more. Particularly moving were a mother and son who came to the first show. She had provided a verbatim story about their relationship and they came to watch together. We even had tears. Yes motherhood is messy, we make mistakes but it can also be wonderfully rewarding. We hope our Brisbane audiences enjoy sharing the experience with us.

VIRAG: Lastly how can we support your work?

ANGELA: You are already supporting us with this interview and we would appreciate it if you could continue your wonderfully supportive work by sharing it as far and wide as possible. We appreciate that 22 May is a night of many shows but hope you will encourage Festival goers to slot us into their schedule.

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