The boy who had a mother: chilling and haunting

The program brochure led me to expect at least a duologue when in fact this is another male monologue.  The brochure credits Jeff McMahan only as writer of The Boy who had a Mother, when also presumably he is the performer and probably self-directed.

A young man returns to the home of his mentally-ill mother, reluctantly. Her illness seems to have started when she proclaimed that she was to give birth to the "new Jesus" (though looking back we wonder if we have been told the truth). He soon starts sharing memories, mostly chronologically, through his childhood. He loved fantasy books;  his father stressed the danger of intruders and asked him to watch his mother carefully. So soon we are considering what is "normal."  Then, gradually, we ponder the sanity of this man telling us so much about the mental illness of others. I believe that the possibility that this apparently "normal" man may not be what he seems should slowly enter our minds - the brochure actually gives this away. We have the evidence, usually in his own words, to decide just what influences and experiences have made him what he is, as if we could be certain what he is. So it goes, as Vonnegut would put it.

That all rings horribly true is a compliment to the writing and the acting. We frequently have the speech of mother and father (and once a girl friend who wants to see a horror movie).  Though McMahan does not assume voices, we always know who is speaking.  McMahan is constantly on the move, between two chairs, sitting, kneeling, standing. For each switch of time or topic, the lights change, intrusively and too emphatically,

A chilling and haunting piece: where is the line between sane and insane?

The Boy who had a Mother is part of this year's Vancouver Fringe. For more information go here.