Life Before You is a powerful play that articulates the relationship between mother and daughter Graínne and Eimear.
The bond that unites them is strong and there isn’t any length Graínne wouldn’t go to for her daughter. Underneath the quiet domesticity, beautifully conveyed by the set, lies an undercurrent of generational trauma and a need to belong.
Gráinne left Northern Ireland to give her daughter more opportunities in life and when Eimear leaves for the prestigious Ruskin Art School in Oxford she effaces traces of her old life, of her origins and reinvent herself.
This goes beyond the usual need to conform and find their place that motivates many a young student. Eimear sheds her Irish identity but despite the growing distance she places between her and her mother, even changing her name to Emma, she is still consumed by the need to portray Gráinne in her art work.
This part resonated with me in particular as our own daughter is studying art and she regularly produced pieces featuring me during her foundation year at art school.
While her daughter is away, Gráinne grows increasingly febrile through loneliness and unfullfilment . There was a time when she too would had enjoyed art school and a life of exploration of her own interests and passions.
Her military husband’s absence leads her to imagining him in the arms of many mistresses around the world, while she suffers the throws of menopause and fights for doctors to take her symptoms seriously.
Eva Hudson’s Life Before You, directed by Roisin McCay-Hines, kept us enraptured as it captured the women’s battles around the weight of carrying inherited identity and the need to forge new ones.
There were however a few moments that left us a little confused, especially when memories of Gráinne’s own mother’s plight were evoked and we found the flashbacks slightly hard to follow.
Saying that though, the intensity of the mother and daughter relationship is beautifully written and wonderfully portrayed by Hayley-Marie Axe as Gráinne and Georgia Alexandra as Eimear. We found Georgia’s performance particularly poignant.
It’s no mean feat to tackle such powerful themes and emotions in such a short time and we truly recommend the play.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Life Before You is on a national tour, including at Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol on 7 March.
