Can Any Mother Help Me?

This play is based on the book 'Can Any Mother Help Me?; by Jenna Bailey. In 1935, a young mother wrote a letter to a magazine, asking readers for help. She was lonely and frustrated, stuck at home with two children, unable to express her thoughts and ideas. The letter struck a chord with women all over the country and someone suggested they start a private magazine.

And so the Cooperative Correspondence Club, or CCC, was born. The women wrote about every aspect of their lives - the pain and elation of childbirth, the challenges of marriage, broken hearts and fading dreams. None of them could have anticipated the friendships that would grow nor that the magazine would last their lifetimes.

The play opens in a 1930s world of teacups and Vim where young mothers exchange childcare tips in the pages of “Nursery World”. The Foursight Theatre Company has captured the essence of the lives, times and personalities of the assorted women who committed half a century of joys, fears and sorrows to paper. At first, it’s a bit like a schoolgirl club. Everyone has a pen name - Isis, Angharad, Cotton Goods – not forgetting Ad Astra the indomitable headmistress cum editor-in-chief who masterminds the enterprise. The club is secret especially from husbands and has rules “members must be mothers”, “no footnotes”. Developed by members of the company, this play is an exquisite evocation of the friendships fostered between the women who made up the CCC. With the passing years the magazine becomes a place where they can not only be themselves, but where they can grow up and grow old together. Fine, well paced performances from all members of the cast are complemented by a well chosen set and lighting that captures the dinginess of the mid 20th century British home. Funny, entertaining, moving and above all truthful, this is a first rate piece of theatre.