“Now the best of the lot that I saw was something called Mamakin, created and performed by Stephanie Moore, from Ottawa. Not only is Moore a versatile actress who moves like an animal and literally devours the stage, but she’s a talented singer, and a very intelligent and sensitive author who created this refreshing psycho-drama, a look at mother-daughter relationships, even mother-son relationships, up to a point.

Samantha climbs out of the womb, uncurls her body, and there she is, on stage with this long vacuum cleaner tube- one end hooked up to her stomach, the other end hooked up to the invisible Mum off stage. She drags this umbilical cord on stage with her for a whole hour, as she shows us that Mums can’t be ignored, Mums can’t be repressed, Mum knows all, hears all, sees all, and is always there, and is everywhere, just like God…What was so wonderful about this was the way that Samantha’s performance revealed all the subtle forms of Mama’s tyranny. Mama is always with us, telling us how to think, how to act, and not only was it funny, but it was uncomfortably dead on. She really hit it. That’s what moved the audience. Brilliantly acted, well staged, Mamakin was the highlight of my day at the fringe.

Alvina Ruprecht
CBC Radio