Suicide, single-parent families, obsessive compulsive disorder, infertility, My Mam was An Ice-Cream Blonde touches on them all. Alison Carr's play is the seventh winner of The People's Play Award, a joint venture between The People's Theatre and New Writing North, awarded every two years for new writers in the region. So going into this performance you would expect a play that stood out from the norm and offered something innovative. This is definitely what you get. The concept behind the play is a bold one. Jenny, the main character, is a 15-year-old who, in the absence of her real mother, develops a fantasy world, in which her Mam is a Hollywood superstar. This, coupled with the recurring theme of Jenny's obsessive compulsive disorder, makes the play even more original. The issue of the single-parent family is ever-present, with the family dynamics of Jenny, her dad and her step-mum a major issue from the start. There are numerous highly emotive and intense exchanges between these three characters, some of which are not for the faint-hearted. However, moments of comedy, often provided by Jenny's best friend Laura, who flits in and out of the performance, offer much needed relief, and help lighten the highly-charged atmosphere. The only criticism would be that it tries to cover too many issues in too short a space of time, which sometimes makes it seem a touch hectic. But if you fancy an emotive, original play then this is definitely worth seeing. But don't go expecting light viewing, as this is anything but. | 
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