EDINBURGH 2023: Review: JESUS, JANE, MOTHER & ME, Pleasance

Daniel Valentine is an extremely enthusiastic young man. He’s eighteen years old and he’s just returned to his mother’s house after some time away. 

Daniel’s birth was a difficult and traumatic one leaving his mother with both physical and mental scars. Without other family members to lean on, the church swooped in and offered them support and became a lifeline for the pair. 

The church is extremely important to them and Daniel relishes in every element of it. He loves the comfort in the rituals, the people and the sense of community. The church is an obsession for them both until a new one takes over. I booked in for this show knowing absolutely nothing about it other than it slotted nicely into my schedule. When I found out who the ‘Jane’ in the title refers to, I burst out laughing and one woman got up and left the venue. 

The humour is pitch black because it's clear that despite Daniel’s positive attitude his life is a bit of a sorry one and his mother is struggling. Their shared obsession with a celebrity is something that his mum prioritises over things like milk and meat but not alcohol and cigarettes. Daniel doesn’t have any friends and misses a lot of school but he doesn’t seem to mind. He has his mum. And Jane.

Jack Stokes is a force of nature as Daniel. He has this extraordinary ability to remain cheerful in the face of some pretty terrible circumstances. It’s mentioned at one point that his mother is able to produce doctors' notes featuring a range of diagnoses for him and its unclear whether these are forged or whether he does have these mental health conditions. 

It’s a powerful and impactful beautifully written play that manages to find humour in the darkest of subjects.

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