Through a sea of ‘headless torsos’, this comic Mormon mommy monologue proves bears and otters aren’t only to be found in an Attenborough documentary. Rating
Good
Jessica Martin embodies the repressed Republican housewife: mother first, Mormon second to her “agnostic on a good day” gay son Joseph, who is at best destined to a “Holiday Inn level” of heaven.
A cosy cream armchair engulfs Martin as she indulges in the ultimate sins of Pepsi, gossip and Grindr. Exposition kickstarts with childbirth as Mom admits her own past to be “boring” and whilst anecdotal family background has its moments, the real laughs hit when “The Grindr” is downloaded and we learn the app is not simply “Christian Singles for the gays”.
Whether you are familiar with the geo-social dating platform or not, our very own Grindr Mom has you covered for the various tribes and terminology encountered as a blank profile missionary.
One particular scene of hilarity is mistaking the married choirmaster’s ‘Vers’ bio as a section of music over sexual versatility. Writer Ronnie Larson’s witty wordplay is a gift used to great effect by Martin as her eyes bulge and cheeks blush when reliving one fateful church service where her undercover operative work reveals the truth about the congregation she thought she once knew.
As a talking head performance, specific vignettes set in the tabernacle or Dairy Queen are easier to follow than meandering rants on the qualities of her Democrat son or bigoted husband Tom who is never feel fully realised.
During the first half of the play, director Gerald Armin delves into the fraught but loving bond between Joseph and his Mom, but as the Grindr crusade swerves from exposing married men to safeguarding underage boys, Joseph’s life is set aside. Given that Grindr Mom is a tale of motherhood (even in her online ‘Pepsi Guzzler’ persona, she remains committedly maternal) to lose focus on the developing relationship between mother and son results in a somewhat unsatisfactory dénouement.
Larson does however raise an important question as Joseph’s Mom asks if “this sea of headless torsos really is what [her] son thinks dating is?” Martin deftly handles dangerous excitement with layers of loneliness and vapidity providing much needed depth to the shallow world of hook-ups.
Grindr Mom is itself a versatile comedy with much laughter and intrigue. From top to bottom, Martin makes Mormon magic, even if her monologue could use some shepherding.
Written by Ronnie Larson
Directed by Gerald Armin
Produced by Waterloo East Theatre
Grindr Mom plays at Waterloo East Theatre until Sunday 1 March.
