My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington, DC

 

Suli Holum as Daughter (L) and Holly Twyford as Mama (R, projected onto the exterior of her apartment) in My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography.

Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is more than 5000 miles from Washington, DC. A bit of Ukraine, however, is alive and fighting on D St. NW, where the Woolly Mammoth Theatre (in a co-production with Philadelphia’s Wilma Theatre) stages the world premiere of an important new play, continuing through October 8. Sure, you can read about the Ukrainian invasion by the Russians online or catch a report on the news. But if you really want to understand, see My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion by Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova.

The program’s “About the Show” provides a more concise summary than I could create:

Sasha’s 82-year-old mother, Olga, is on the frontlines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, having lived in Kyiv her whole life. Olga is thrust into increasingly fantastical situations: she strategizes with President Zelenskyy, strikes Russian drones with jars of pickles, and even debates with God. Inspired by online chats with her mother, playwright Sasha Denisova brings us this new play about a family’s connection and legacy amidst the present-day war and global crisis.

Inventively staged by director Yury Urnov (who happens to be Russian), My Mama shows us that war is not only about the big events, but the little moments in the lives of ordinary people. Wars are fought not just by soldiers, but also by the civilians left behind.

We first meet the character described as Daughter, based on the playwright, who speaks directly to the audience and provides us with the background we need. A theatre director, she has been working in Moscow, but when the invasion begins, she escapes to Poland and tries desperately to convince her mother to join her there. Resolutely, Mama refuses. Her kitchen is in Kyiv! Besides, with her feet and legs in the shape they are in, the buses would be too painful to manage. No, she will stay, she will adapt, she will stuff some peppers and keep going. She needs to stay in Kyiv, perhaps believing that her presence is key to its defense. Many of the conversations between Mama and her daughter are realistic recreations of actual or imagined conversations. But in her fantasy life, Mama imagines conversations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and President Joe Biden, not to mention confronting God and giving him a piece of her mind.

Joe Biden calls on Mama: Holly Twyford (L) as Mama, Lindsay Smiling (C) as Man, and Suli Holman (R) as Daughter in My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Photo credit: DJ Corey.

We see Mama and her husband going through the mundane trivialities of life, interrupted but never stopped by nearby explosions. Mama is rarely without a cigarette as we see her conversing with her daughter by phone, text, and video chat.

We move backward and forward in time. Mama is an engineer, a woman of science. She never quite understands her daughter, whose world consists of theatre and other arts. (She wonders at one point if the hospital might have switched babies, her daughter is so different. But then again, Mama’s mother was a writer who didn’t quite understand her.) Mama never quite manages to compliment her daughter, despite her considerable accomplishments, and often reminds her that because of her daughter’s birth, she never completed her doctoral dissertation. Still, there is affection between them.

Director Urnov directs with a sure hand as he masterfully and seamlessly mixes on-stage action with televised projections and animations, more effectively than other productions I have seen. Projection designer Kelly Colburn deserves great credit as the projections use various surfaces for backgrounds and rely on Tik-Tok-like special effects; some are realistic images, with a few very witty animations, assisted by Venus Gulbranson’s lighting design. Costume designer Ivania Stack has created costumes that are memorable and appropriate. Set designer (and, not-so-coincidentally, translator) Misha Kachman has created a confined but not claustrophobic environment for Mama’s apartment, rotating so that we see the apartment from all angles. Mama leaves the apartment only in flashbacks or when climbing to the roof to confront God. (A projection above the action reads, “Mama Demands Divine Intervention.”) The unified nature of the production indicates a great deal of effective collaboration among the creative team members.

Suli Holum as Daughter (L), Holly Twyford as Mama (C), and Lindsayu Smiling as Man (R) in My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Set design and photo by Misha Kachman.

The cast of three creates far more than three characters. “Man,” in the person of Lindsay Smiling, for example, is Mama’s husband but also appears persuasively as Joe Biden, God, and Mama’s mother. Suli Holum embodies a certain earnestness as “Daughter” but also slips into a mask as “the Putin” (in Mama’s lingo) in one of Mama’s fantasies when Mama, Biden, and “the Putin” are all in her apartment. Holum manages to convey her concern for Mama, but also her amusement and admiration.

Holly Twyford, a five-time Helen Hayes Award winner, is DC theatre royalty, and her performance in My Mama confirms it. The program lists her character as “Mother,” but that is too sterile, too generic for me to use. Twyford isn’t Mother, she is Mama, a much more personal (and relatable) moniker. Twyford convinces us that she is a feisty, quirky Ukrainian woman in her 80s, as well as a much younger woman in flashback. Twyford’s portrayal of Mama lets us see how resilient the Ukrainian people are, an embodiment of the determination that kept Russia from conquering Ukraine not in three days (as was the original plan), nor in the 27 months since the fateful day of February 24, 2022.

You may remember when Reader’s Digest had a “my most unforgettable character” feature. Twyford’s Mama fits that description perfectly.

Theatre usually takes longer than other art forms to respond to and analyze current events, so Denisova’s play is a rarity in its “ripped from the headlines” urgency. My Mama should be seen by large audiences who are sure to appreciate Denisova’s way with writing dialogue, her humor, and her humanity. (We even get to “meet” Denisova’s real Mama at the end of the play, and she is exactly who we expect her to be.) Denisova has created a work that manages to portray the intense reality of war with resistant hope and humor. A play about the invasion of Ukraine by those Mama deems as “Ruscists” (Russian Fascists) with laughs? Yes, and many of them. In essence, humor is hope.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (a former actor himself) is visiting Washington this week. What a treat it would be for him to see how this play dramatizes the resolve and the ethos of the citizens of his country. I’m sure Mama could stuff some peppers for him for dinner.

An unforgettable character: Holly Twyford as Mama in My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography.