Categories: Curtain Call

From Mother to Daughter

By John Farrell

Night Mother is the moving story of two people, an aging mother and her epileptic daughter, locked in the final night of their relationship. It’s been told before, notably in a film, but you will hardly see a better version than at Little Fish Theatre the nest two weeks: moving, articulate and with two actresses who bring to their performances an intensity, an honesty, you won’t forget for a long time.

Amanda Karr is Jessie, the matter-of-fact daughter who has made a list of everything her mother needs, from shopping information to candy, because she is going to commit suicide that evening. Mary-Margaret Lewis is Thelma, the mother who has long dealt with Jessie’s problems, including epilepsy, a son who has pretty much much taken up a criminal career and a life that isn’t going anywhere.

Karr’s Jessie has already made up her mind that life has no more to offer her, and her intensity palpable from the very first: you know she is planning something, and as she rev eals it to her mother, and she talks about how all she wants in quite, she stares through the audience (whi is very close up at Little Fish.) The intimacy makes the play, and Karr’s startlingly real performance, that much more effective.

Lewis plays Thelma with the kind of pathos, the kind of desperation, you’d expect in someone who faces the imminent suicide of a loved one. She tries everything to dissuade Jessie: humor, threats, pleading, all the armaments of a distraught mother facing an impossible situation.

Together the two make a deeply nuanced picture of love, os desperation.

Tickets are $25, $23 for students and seniors. Performances Wednesday, May 2 at 8 p.m., Thursday, May 3 at 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 9 at 8 p.m. and Thursday, May 10 at 8 p.m.

Details: (310) 512-6030, www.littlefishtheatre.org
Venue: Little Fish Theatre
Location: 777 Centre St., San Pedro

Terelle Jerricks

During his two decade tenure, he has investigated, reported on, written and assisted with hundreds of stories related to environmental concerns, affordable housing, development that exacerbates wealth inequality and the housing crisis, labor issues and community policing or the lack thereof.

Recent Posts

He Tells the Truth When He Lies: A JD Vance Primer on Building Conspiracies

By Allison Butler Lately, I’ve had lyrics to ‘I’ve Got No Idols,’ by 1990s indie-darling…

2 hours ago

Long Beach Gears Up for October Arts Month with Open Studio Tours

  LB Open Studio Tour 2025, October is Arts Month In celebration of Long Beach…

3 hours ago

Charge Your Car, Not Your Wallet, Carson Launches EV Charging Wallet Pilot Program

  CARSON — The City of Carson announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind EV charging…

3 hours ago

Washington’s Complex Agenda in the Middle East

Washington hopes with all this firepower to maintain control over oil resources and stave off…

4 hours ago

California Expands Workforce Support and Protects Homeland Security Funding

Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Expanding Workers’ Rights SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 30 signed…

4 hours ago

Gaza Aid Flotillas Defy Israeli Blockade to Bring Medicine and Food to Palestinians

Denying Gazans humanitarian aid, impeding ships in international waters and arresting at gunpoint those onboard…

5 hours ago