Zoya Martin, Eddie Shields, and Tamara Hickey Photo by Nile Scott Studios

This is a memory play which begins in the early 1960s when siblings Martha (Zoya Martin) is 12 and her brother Carl (Eddie Shields) is 14. Their mother Phyllis (Tamara Hickey) is 37 and she drinks gin. She is not certain she ever really wanted children, but she tries mightily to find a place where they can live. In so doing, they must dodge, for example, cockroaches (see Brendan F Doyle's projections and Jim Youngerman's cockroach art). The performance moves forward through moves to different apartments.

Martha represents Vogel and narrated at times, taking the audience through some changes. The actors shift furniture about Omid Akbari's appropriate set, one which is malleable. Hickey, oftentimes graceful, plays a mother who is not affectionate but definitely shows that she cares about Martha and Carl. Phyllis is domineering even as her pronouncements are ineffective. She insists that her offspring behave in a certain manner and they do not. She wants them to be conventional and they are anything but that.

It is evident early on that Carl will proceed with his own unique identity. Eddie Shields does a splendid job of taking this man on a journey as the time periods move, by increments, forward nearly 40 years. Zoya Martin's Martha feels for her mother but she, too, becomes a singular woman rather than Phyllis's appendage. Martha leans away from her mother, but when Phyllis becomes aged and infirm, Martha does not abandon her.

The play, literally and symbolically, is about packing and unpacking, as Martha notes in her early dialogue. Phyllis echoes that theme. She wanted "normal" children, and the family's trajectory does not enable fulfillment of that request.

While there's not a whole lot of levity to the cogent piece, one spirit-lifting highlight sequence is more than worth sharing. The actors engage is a sparkling disco dance, which thankfully lasts for a few moments. Movement expert Susan Dibble surely choreographed this mini-scene, one that shines. It is undeniably joyful.

Tamara Hickey has appeared at Shakespeare & Company a number of times and she successfully personifies Phyllis, a complicated and tormented soul. Eddie Shields, with numerous theatre credits to his name, provides a very credible Carl, a man beset by his own demons. Zoya Martin was distinctive when she appeared in Dear Jack, Dear Louise at Shakespeare & Company two years ago. Her performance in Mother Play is affecting through her compassion. The actress projects warmth and understanding throughout and one edges forward to listen, even more closely, to her words. Martha draws observers in through her own memory and recollections.

Director Bock is an esteemed actor and she is able to draw upon that skill set to facilitate three adroit performers. Her adept direction promotes balance: the characters take turns issuing impactful, telling lines. She is able to approach this play, this work of art, from more than one dimension. She does not hurry the actors and allows Vogel's words the space to influence. This is not an easy evening of theater but it is one to be appreciated.

The award-winning Paula Vogel (How I Learned to Drive and The Baltimore Waltz) furnishes a tough, well-written, memoir-like script which effectively translates to the live stage. The forms are so dissimilar that it is all to Vogel's credit that her dialogue engrosses from the outset, and the presentation gains momentum as it unfolds. The subtitle, A Play in Five Evictions, is of vital importance since the action progresses with each change and subsequent time period. Perhaps Vogel, through this play, was able to release her own emotions, what she, herself, experienced during three plus decades.

Mother Play runs through October 5, 2025, at Shakespeare & Company, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St., Lenox MA. For tickets and information, please call 413-637-3353 or visit Shakespeare.org.