It’s pretty unique to go to the theatre to find the auditorium shifted around, the rows of seats substituted for a cosy, kitchen-style set-up with little tables complete with checked cloths centre stage.

The cakes on them looked good enough to eat, not just props, and sure enough the audience were invited to take a seat and munch away on the freshly baked goodies as the drama unfolded.

Baking and informality draw us to the heart of a Devon family home where Mum and Dad chat away, she peeling vegetables and he tapping away at the computer, in The Everyman Studio’s latest offering – Every Mother’s Son.

But the main food is for thought as their conversation focuses on their son in Afghanistan, his past and present brought to life on big screens around the room.

Commissioned by The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon ‘to give form to reflections and experiences of war’, Multi Story Theatre Company’s production took inspiration from an archive of local people’s memories to turn the spotlight on the effect of overseas conflict on family back home.

It couldn’t be more appropriate that this innovative production is in Cheltenham for Remembrance week, yet while Doug (former RSC actor and assistant director Bill Buffery) reflects on his grandfather’s experiences it brings the horror of war bang up to date as the drama unfolding in Afghanistan and Chrissie’s fears for Josh create war within the home.

Is it worse to have loved ones involved in conflicts today with 24-hour news and Facebook a constant reminder of the dangers they face?

Are those fighting today any less noble than their World War forebears because they’re not doing so for the clear-cut cause of British freedom?

What does war really mean to us now we can all be armchair generals, clicking a button for democracy or getting ‘bored of peace’ and ‘bombing the enemy back to the stone age’ as we try out the latest computer game? And how does seeing battle as entertainment affect our views of those on the real ‘Call of Duty’?

This intense, short drama doesn’t have the answers but it brings into sharp focus the point that poppy day isn’t just about heroes of the past but the pain of many families in the present and tragically what they’ll face in the future as, as surely as there’ll be demand for the next COD sequel, real life conflicts will continue – the shells falling far away but their shocks reverberating in kitchens like Chrissie’s across the country.

This is a subtle, quiet piece which could only skim the surface of such big issues. But it provided a unique experience and much, if painful to swallow, food for thought.
Anne Brittain, Gloucester Citizen

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I've always harboured a secret ambition to be on stage and last night my dreams were realised at the Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple. It was easy, I didn't have to do any more than sip a cup of tea and nibble on some tasty cakes.

I was at the Queen's Theatre back in November for the launch of Studio@QT. This small intimate performance space allows for less formal presentations than we are used to in the traditional Queen's Theatre setting. You couldn't have got more informal than actually sitting on stage between the two performers at last night's [Every Mother's Son] presented by Barnstaple's Multi Story Theatre Company.

The power of [Every Mother's Son] lies in its connection with the audience. I had expected tales of war and 'fighting for your country'. [Every Mother's Son] is far more than this.

Chrissie (Gill Nathanson) and Doug (Bill Buffery) live separate lives together. Their younger son is about to leave for a second tour of duty in Afghanistan and while Chrissie bakes cakes for him and his army mates Doug holes himself up in his cellar connecting with the outside world and happier times via the internet. Although only separated by a flight of stairs the couple communicate via webcams on their laptops.

We share experiences of difficult times overcome and the debate over war and peace which now divides the couple. Is it OK to smash a man's nose in a boxing match, to kill entire civilisations in a video game, to disagree with war because that is what your father taught you? Do you support your son's choices because you love him or cut him off for the very same reason?

[Every Mother's Son] was a totally absorbing experience. The ingenious use of live webcam video projection mixed with images of war, the North Devon countryside and family life brought past and present together. I loved the way that this use of technology was an integral part of the story and not just a gimmicky afterthought.

The North Devon references in the play made it special for the local audience. We laughed at the 'You know when you're in North Devon' facebook quotes about the Barnstaple stones and KFC replacing the Wimpy.

The characters were so well drawn and the performances from Nathanson and Buffery so convincing that I feel I made new friends last night. Even though I was with them for a little over an hour it is like I have known Chrissie and Doug for years.
Amanda McCormack, Barnstaple People

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This week The Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter is hosting [Every Mother's Son], an utterly compelling new drama from celebrated North Devon company Multistory. My attendance at yesternight’s opening was a challenging but fulfilling experience.

Entrance into the intimate play room at the Bike Shed was instantaneous immersion into the world(s) of the two characters. Two computer stations had been arranged in opposite corners of the theatre with large screens displaying what was happening on one of the PC screens. Meanwhile, the audience was arranged in circles around tables bearing plates of home-made cakes. As the action of the play then commenced, it became clear that the entire room was being exploited as a story-telling tool.

I mentioned the word “immersive” and this is the perfect adjective to describe it. The two actors positioned themselves at each of the computers so that, with the arrangement of the screens, the action of the play was unfolding on all sides of the audience. It was established that the two protagonists were husband and wife, and yet were accustomed to spending their time in different parts of the house communicating through web cameras and microphones. As a concept this was clearly intended to mirror the paradoxical but increasingly common condition of our times: isolation and dislocation in a world where all so much of the globe and its history can be accessed at the click of the mouse.

As the play progressed, its second central theme emerged. The younger son of the two protagonists was imminently returning to Afghanistan for a second tour, and the examination of war and our contradictory attitudes towards it were subsequently dissected and exposed as the couple reflected, reminisced and articulated a series of poignant and touching stories for their respective and communal pasts as another key theme of the play.

It is impossible to do justice in this review to the play’s extraordinary scope and depth. The fact that in spite of this the play held together so well was due to its high standard of writing and, more importantly, some exceptional acting from the two leads. The power of their performances, despite the fact that they hardly moved from their computer consoles during the whole play was extremely impressive.

As I was leaving the theatre I overheard a lady thanking the principal actress profusely and explaining that she was herself the mother of a British soldier in Afghanistan. I found this an extremely powerful confirmation of the play’s success in capturing a very real, very topical and very timeless truth… and in the end, isn’t that the highest that any and all art can aspire to?
Philip Kingslan John, ArtsCulture

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“A brilliant cutting edge piece of theatre that actually helped me understand better my husband's family's attitudes to his job.”
A soldier's wife who has “weathered Iraq and Afghanistan”.

“I have been thinking all week about events/happenings that create those paradigm switches in the human brain that enable us to go and fight, go and love, go and do anything that under different circumstances we would think completely alien to our belief systems and way of life. Tell us when you are doing it again... would love to be there!”
Member of audience at first performance.

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Cake baked: must eat it

In Exeter, The Bike Shed Theatre again proves itself foremost in presenting important work that resonates with thinking people's concerns on this complex planet of ours. (If it really is ours?)

Multi Story Theatre Company visits this exciting venue to present exhilarating drama, filled with present-day relevance and human issues, that justly could be included in the syllabus of Modern History courses in secondary schools and colleges across the English speaking world.

Performers Gill Nathanson & Bill Buffery, are famous beyond their North Devon heartland, where they promote the annually growing “Barnstaple Fringe TheatreFest” every June. The pair are consummate actors, inventive conspirators and meticulous creators of entertaining yet intensely mind-engaging explorations of important issues. In [Every Mother's Son] they focus scrutiny-by-live-performance upon dark regions of the human psyche and daily existence. They link the etiquette of 'cakes and ale' in domestic life here in Devon, with the reality of a harsh world in which human beings operate under totally different rules of engagement.

Numerous links are followed and explored in [Every Mother's Son] and all turn in upon the alienation between homely passivity and violent action, abroad. Which is truly our Western-style, 'civilised' human nature? - Smug, domestic satisfaction or aggressive conquest over other cultures, different and contrary to our own?

Chrissie is the mother of soldier son, Josh, stationed temporarily in Regimental Barracks after recovering from wounds sustained in Helmand Province, now about to rejoin his unit. She bakes cakes for him to take back to his mates, three and a half thousand miles from home. She must have them ready when the taxi comes to take her with her pacifist, second husband, Doug, to the departure ceremony. But will he rise from his computer-heaven basement, where inexplicably, even to himself, he obsessively plays hellishly bloody war-games and ponders the Human Family?

Afghanistan is brought home on a stream of mobile phone clips from the lads still out there and are saved, displayed and replayed by Doug, on large screens. His basement lair is isolated light years from Chrissie, up in her kitchen. Man and wife communicate via twin-set web cams and monitors. What is our world coming to? The question hangs over the whole brilliantly conceived production.

Audiences at The Bike Shed Theatre will be invited to sit at tables randomly placed about the space, fed with Gill's home-baked cakes and lulled into a false security, a tea room, so deceptive to the real world we inhabit: A world of nobody's baking, but our own. If we must have our cake, we must eat it, - and likewise, lie on the beds we make for ourselves.

The tensions between Nathanson's unfaltering grip on maternal strife and Buffery's insecure pacifist, escaping those tensions and substituting for his unmanly life-choices, make for supremely powerful drama; the latest of so many great pieces of theatre that in more affluent times might well grace bigger audiences in larger cities. Let none of you who love to debate life's complexities miss any worthwhile productions at The Bike Shed Theatre, especially this.
Arthur Duncan, remotegoat.co.uk

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Pulse Fringe Festival

In the Second World War, loved ones waited nervously at home, waiting weeks, months, or even years for news of their soldier’s fate while fighting overseas. Now in the digital age news reaches those families almost instantaneously.

Email, text, Skype, blogs and mobile phones bridge the gap to home but is such immediate contact always a good thing?

In [Every Mother's Son], Multi Story Theatre Company examines the impact of the information age on those left at home while their loved ones are in Afghanistan.

Doug and Chrissie have a strange relationship. He’s a web designer and technology geek who spends most of his time in the cellar. She takes solace in the kitchen baking cakes. They communicate via Skype and web chat. Their son, Josh, is about to leave for his second tour of duty in Helmand, a cake is baking in the oven for him to take with him, and the taxi is booked.

Doug and Chrissie have some issues to get through first. Doug, a die-hard pacifist still can’t quite come to terms with his step-son’s military career. Chrissie has panic attacks as she revisits her son’s close call with death in an explosion that tore apart his best friend. Can Chrissie tempt Doug away from his laptop to bid Josh farewell and can both come to terms with Josh’s motives for wanting to fight?

Initially based on over 20 hours worth of recorded testimony of real soldiers and families, writers and actors Bill Buffery and Gill Nathanson have crafted a multi-layered work that looks not only at the impact of war but the wider conflicts that threaten to pull many families apart.

There is a disconcerting sense of domesticity as the audience enter. Seated at onstage tables, audiences are greeted by Chrissie who offers them cake. There’s a feeling of a coffee morning as she proudly displays her baking skills. She continues to bake throughout the show, as Doug on the opposite side of the stage plays with his technology and gadgets. As they communicate online, Doug brings up various documents and websites, projected onto two screens. Audiences therefore watch a mix of live action and projected images; in fact, there is a show within a show, watching fellow audiences to see which they choose to watch, actor or screen.

There’s a subtlety to the script that lulls you into a false sense of comfort, despite the domesticity there’s a much darker plot at work here. Violence, repression, grief – all combining into a detailed and moving family drama, a mix as satisfying as the cakes on offer.
Glen Pearce glenstheatreblog.com

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Pulse Fringe Festival

It isn’t often you arrive at a play and have the leading lady give you a guided tour of the cakes on the table in front of you – cakes she has made herself.

The baking forms an important part of the action in [Every Mother's Son]. Chrissie (played by Gill Nathanson) is in her kitchen baking cakes for her soldier son, Josh, to take with him to Afghanistan. She copes with her fears for his safety on this, his second tour of duty, by creating favourite cakes for him and his soldier friends, as the minutes tick down to the arrival of the taxi and the time she must say goodbye. We, the audience, sit on stage at small tables eating cake, with Chrissie to one side, and her website-designer husband, Doug (Bill Buffrey), on the other side, in the basement office of their home. Doug approaches the dreaded moment by immersing himself in obsessive research about the reality of the war as told by news reports, the soldiers’ Facebook sites and their blogs – and refuses to come out and say goodbye to Josh.

What makes the staging of this production particularly intriguing is that Chrissie and Doug are communicating via Skype and webcams. Geeky Doug is surrounded by the screens and keypads of the tools of his trade and Chrissie has her laptop lodged alongside the cooking apples she peels as she tries to persuade him to change his mind. The audience is torn between watching each other’s reactions, or the two parents as they battle with their worries, or two large screens. These showed not only the parents two-way webcam conversation but also photos of Josh and his brother, mountaineer Ben, as they grow up with the records of their achievements on websites and blogs. Doug also reveals some of the sobering news-reports and films on YouTube that he has discovered.

We see the anguish of Chrissie, as she recalls how Josh’s best friend was blown up and died in his arms (an effective use of lighting, sound and a tumbling Action Man doll), and the preoccupation of Doug and his technology. We then hear of Doug’s father who was left scarred and unable to communicate about his time serving in the Second World War.

Through [Every Mother's Son] we are reminded of the contrast between the over-availability of instant communication in the current war, and the lack of information in the last - and interesting questions are also raised about video war-games and their impact upon current attitudes to guns and warfare.

[Every Mother's Son] was a thought-provoking production, developed by Bill and Gill from oral archive testimony gathered from recordings in their native Devon.

We never learn if Doug gave in and left his cellar to attend the soldiers farewell, but some-how it didn’t matter: this was an absorbing hour in the theatre, technically complicated but faultless…. and the cakes tasted good too!
Rachel Sloane onesuffolk.net

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Hallo! I saw your production of [Every Mother's Son] at the Bike Shed in Exeter. It laid out the arguments which have been going round and round in my head. My response was so personal that I initially failed to appreciate what an excellent play it was for everyone. Whoops! That sounds a bit of a back handed compliment... I have a son in the army, I've always found that difficult .. your play made it much clearer to me WHY I find it difficult.

I went with friends. One of my friends spoke to the actress who plays the mother and said, 'This play should go to London! Everyone should see it! It shouldn't be limited to a small theatre in the West Country!' I can only agree. How about the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, London? How can I help? It really is a magnificent play.

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Hi Bill & Gill, I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful experience that was [Every Mother's Son]! What a beautiful and heart warming show!

As I do alot of PR, production and film/projections for our own performances, I know only too well what a mammoth achievement the show represents and, perhaps as I have some personal experience of the subject matter, this peice provoked quite an emotional and gut-felt response which for me, working in the industry as I do, is honestly not an easy thing to accomplish by any means! I was totally absorbed and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

I thought that your characterisation was absoutely on point and the multimedia aspect beautifully choreographed within the live action to create a seemless and totally believable 'virtual' environment. I loved that the staging made the audience feel a part of it.

I have to admit that I am always a little dubious when it comes to seeing shows from companies I am not familiar with, as you never quite know what to expect, but tonight I was really glad I made the effort to come down! Your performance was truly unforgettable - and for all the right reasons! I can't express in an email just how refreshing it was to see and feel theatre of that calibre and be able to actually watch and experience it instead of distancing myself through the inherited critical perspective of a producer. The scripting was ingenious in that you totally captivated the relationship and conversational language but without attributing blame or bias to either of the opinions or perspectives being portrayed, leaving the audience free to feel as conflicted as the characters about the issues, and continue discussing them after. It was a lovely touch also to have the cake and to make time for such an informal post-show chat at the end, which was clearly appreciated by the audience.

[Every Mother's Son] is a brilliant piece, and I hope your future tours - when you bring this back - go very well! I look forward to seeing more of your work in future, and yes you can quote me on flyers and in funding bids if you wish! ;-).

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I apologise for the delay in writing, but felt I had to say thank you.

I attended your performance of [Every Mother's Son] at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester on Saturday 23rd April.

At the end of your performance I could only mumble a thank you as I felt overwhelmed by emotion. I have no connection with the Armed Services, only the fond and sad memories of my Dad’s Second World War reminiscences – perhaps that was what partly sparked my tears.

May I just say that it was a truly enlightening experience and one that was obviously created with deep thought, sensitivity and respect. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to take part and for allowing me to consider much more deeply the issues surrounding all those involved in striving for peace.

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audience feedback from [Every Mother's Son] at Lamplugh, Cumbria 27 Oct 2012
An unusual format, thought provoking, moving, challenging, funny, beautifully performed. A great evening, thank you.

Very interesting, thought provoking, well scripted, performed, addressed lots of important themes well, a very good piece of theatre. I have seen many similar at the Edinburgh Fringe and this would stand up very well to the best there.

Useful to portray the very different strands that face us as a society – war as was and now. The virtual world impinging on society/speed of internet. The loneliness and isolation away from human contact. The shrinkage of the globe. The predominance of computers/internet over who and what we do – lack of communication. Struggle of parents feeling divided about their children’s lives.

I feel privileged to be able to attend such superb theatre so close to home. I usually have to travel quite a distance.

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