The REcreate Agency and Spin Arts announce the cast of the premiere production of The Good Enough Mums Club. This poignant and hilarious new musical based on women’s own stories of motherhood opens at Birmingham Hippodrome on 25 October, prior to an Autumn tour. It is produced, written, directed and performed by mums, with the passionate team behind it spending the last decade bringing this production to fruition.Â
The cast of The Good Enough Mums Club is Rebecca Bernice Amissah (A Strange Loop, Daddy) as Michelle, Joanna Kirkland (Dear Evan Hansen, The Witches of Eastwick) as Bea, Amy Ross (Wicked, Heathers) as Sophie, Jade Samuels (Jumprov, MAWA) as Chantel and Belinda Wollaston as Esme (JUDY!, MAMMA MIA!) with Gemma Atkins (MAMMA MIA!, Wicked) as Swing and Cartier Fraser (The Buddy Holly Story, The Best of Wham) as Swing.
With a book and lyrics by Emily Beecher and music by Verity Quade, Chris Passey, The Good Enough Mums Club is directed by Sarah Meadows and Michelle Payne.
Not perfect? Join the club! From peeing on sticks to drooping tits, The Good Enough Mums Club is both a hysterical and heartbreaking show which shares the love and dispels the myths with enough wipes to mop the tears and clean away the snotty laughter.
When the Council threatens to close their local playgroup, five women thrown together by motherhood overcome their isolation, loneliness, judgement and perfectionism to discover that they’re stronger as a group than as individuals, and that sometimes, being good enough is best.
Emily Beecher, an award-winning Co-Creative Director, writer, producer, performer, story consultant and proud single mama to Maisie, is the creator and Founding Mother of The Good Enough Mums Club – a musical that grew out of her experience with severe postnatal depression and postnatal psychosis. At the prompting of her therapist, Beecher began to journal her experiences while juggling the demands of a newborn. During 2014, a short community workshop version of The Good Enough Mums Club played to sold-out audiences. In the following years the team reworked the musical by meeting mothers from all over the country – from a mosque in Birmingham, to a pub in Leeds, to a school in the shadow of Grenfell – collecting their stories to ensure the show represents a variety of experiences of motherhood.
The Good Enough Mums Club is leading the way with its family-friendly working policies, which includes job shares, family friendly accommodation and children being welcome in the rehearsal rooms.
The production has been co-commissioned by The Lowry and Birmingham Hippodrome, with support from Arts Council England.
As previously announced, the Autumn 2023 tour will play Birmingham Hippodrome, Patrick Studio (25-29 Oct), Storyhouse, Chester (2-4 Nov), Norwich Theatre Playhouse (9-11 Nov), Lincoln Arts Centre (16-17 Nov), MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton (22-23 Nov) and The Lowry, Salford (30 Nov-2 Dec).
The Good Enough Mums Club welcomes children under 4 to its special relaxed baby & child friendly matinees (although if your child is at the stage where they repeat everything they hear, you might want to consider this as the show is quite sweary!). Evening performances are strictly for those 12+.
Visit http://www.goodenoughmumsclub.com/book to find out more.
