Experiencing The Motherload from the inside is a "real treat" for Launceston actor Jane Johnson.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Johnson had previously enjoyed the production as an audience member and has now joined the mother-led show as a performer.
"It's an amazing project," Johnson said.
"It's deeply collaborative in a way perhaps no other project I've been a part of is like. With the component of bringing on the four contestants with every show, it changes the show dramatically.
"So although there is a structure and there is a scripted element to the show, it's also very improvised as well depending on the four contestants that you get with each show."
The show is multilayered with three performers to be involved onstage for the Northern Tasmanian tour and different components to the show, ranging from audio, performance, games.
Johnson said the games, which include a trivia section, tapped into the experience of being a mother in a fun, raucous kind of way.
The trivia element includes meeting four people from the community 40 minutes before the show.
"Meeting these four women every show who have read the brief and gone 'hell yeah, I'd love to give that a go', I've just been really moved by that," Johnson said.
"By their courage to get up, they've just nailed it. It's not a scary thing. We're looking for women to join us for the three shows coming up."
The production offers Johnson a home-coming, returning to Northern Tasmania for the first time in a while.
"I always love performing close to home, and a lot of the works that I have been doing over the last five to seven years has been in Hobart the majority of it," she said.
"I haven't performed in my home region for a while. So the beauty of this particular project is it's so transferable and it's been created with communities that's deeply embedded in the project and the show.
"So it's really exciting to see it going into different places."
Tasmanian mother of two and independent theatre director Julie Waddington is the mastermind behind the project. The documentary performance explores the beauty, grotesque and poetic in the madness and mundane of motherhood.
The performance has been in development for several years, led by five collaborating artist mums and in consultation with more than 500 mums across Tasmania and the world.
Theatre North is bringing the production to the North, with performances at George Town Hall on June 1; Deloraine's Meander Valley Performing Arts Centre on June 2; Scottsdale Mechanics' Institute Hall on June 3.
Tickets available online at mentalthemotherload.com
Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner