A funny, occasionally touching comedy that runs out of steam before the finish.Rating
Good
There are plenty of ways to explore the meaning of family, but having a grown adult bark at another grown adult is certainly one of the more unusual ones. In Dog Mom, Tate Elizabeth Hanyok asks us to take a world of talking dogs seriously, with mixed results.
The play follows Sarita (Vinita Belani), a recently divorced woman attempting to start afresh in New York, whose plans for a quiet, independent life are interrupted by a stray golden retriever on her doorstep. Reluctantly agreeing to foster the dog, she soon finds herself developing the sort of attachment she was hoping to avoid. Meanwhile, her neighbour Nell (Joanna Holden) and her own dog, Ruben (Tom Barnes), introduce Sarita to the joys and occasional horrors of the local dog-owning community.
There is a decent premise here. Exploring the bonds we form with animals, particularly for people who don’t follow the conventional path towards parenthood, offers plenty of potential. Giving the dogs a voice also provides some amusing opportunities to poke fun at their human companions. And, to be fair, there are moments when Dog Mom genuinely delivers. The canine observations occasionally hit the mark, and Jarreau Antoine brings some welcome comic energy to his various supporting roles.
The trouble is that there is only so much mileage to be had from watching grown adults barking, sniffing and chasing sticks before the novelty begins to wear off. What might be charming in a short sketch becomes rather more repetitive over the course of a full-length play. In fact, had Dog Mom ended at the interval, I’d have gone home happy. Unfortunately, the second half struggles to justify its existence, stretching a premise that works best as a small dose.
The bigger problem is that the human characters never feel quite as fully formed as the dogs they orbit around. Sarita’s divorce and complicated feelings about motherhood offer plenty of material to explore, but the script rarely scratches beneath the surface. Her transformation from reluctant fosterer to devoted dog mum is so predictable that it feels less like an emotional journey and more like a foregone conclusion. There are interesting ideas about loneliness, companionship and the different forms family can take, but they never quite develop into anything particularly substantial.
Still, there is something rather lovely at the heart of Dog Mom. Its affection for the relationships we build with animals is genuine, and the play occasionally manages to balance its sillier moments with a little emotional warmth. It just doesn’t always trust its audience to get there without another round of dog-based antics.
Ultimately, Dog Mom is a perfectly pleasant evening at the theatre, with enough laughs and charm to keep it afloat, even if it never quite reaches the heights its premise promises.
Written by Tate Elizabeth Hanyok
Directed by Ajay Chowdhury
Produced by EnActe Arts
Dog Mom plays at Southwark Theatre until Saturday 7 November.
