Seen by Federica at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 9th of August 2024

5 stars – irresistible

If Arturo Luíz Soria wants to talk about himself, about his past and his traumas, he does it in a very subtle way, by interpreting a version of his mother. Elisabete is a woman in her 70s, as the performer declares in the very beginning of the show, and from that moment on, the fiction starts, and the spell along with it.

Elisabete is both practical and melodramatic. She knows where she stands with the solidity mothers do (even though her character is not bound by social roles, not that of mother, nor wife, nor ex-wife). Like everyone, she also has her open wounds, especially when it comes to the relationship with her own mother. She is a Brazilian living in the US, who stems from a mixed marriage and who has married men of different nationalities: if cultural clashes become the source for jokes, episodes of racism are at the core of the most dramatic moments.

Arturo Luíz Soria is a brilliant, spellbinding performer and creator. With a little help from the light designer (Krista Smith), he can switch from character to character in a smooth and perfectly believable way. The sum of delivery, dramaturgy (by Nahuel Telleria) and direction (Danilo Gambini) gives way to this authentically irresistible play, that caught me laughing too loud when I hadn’t intended to, and moved me profoundly at other moments.

The extravagant character of Elisabete is hardly to be forgotten, with her Portuguese and Spanish intrusions and the misspelling of complex words (where she makes it very clear that the fault is of those words, not hers), her exaggerated gestures and jewellery. At the same time, Ni Mi Madre is a masterpiece in tactfully depicting complex relationships, especially those between sons and daughters and their mothers.

31st July – 26th August; 4.05 pm

Running time: 60 minutes

Venue: Pleasance Dome

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ni-mi-madre

Company Website: https://www.arturoluizsoria.com/nimimadre

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nimimadreplay/

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