I’ve only been writing for four years. Before that, although I worked in and enjoyed theatre, I’d never once wanted to write anything for it. I had seen a not normal amount of theatre shows for the average human and I like to think a kind of osmosis happened, which caused me, in March 2016, to write my first ever story - My Mum’s a Twat. I call it a story, rather than a play, because back then that’s all I knew it was. I hadn’t planned it to be a book or play or audio content. I just wanted it to be the story of why I thought my mum was a twat. Or more accurately why teenage me thought she was one. And so, I wrote about my mum and our relationship from the perspective of me, aged 8 - 18.
My Mum's A Twat with performer Susan Wokoma
I thought I wrote it to entertain myself but someone cleverer than me will probably say I wrote it for other more healing reasons that I wasn’t aware of at the time.
Once finished I let some friends read it and as they all worked in theatre too through their knowledge and support it became a play. Nothing structurally changed, it was the same old thing I’d written, I just suddenly could see it as a one-person show - a monologue, performed by an actor.
It was programmed at the Royal Court Theatre in London and sometimes during the rehearsal process I would forget that this had all happened ‘by accident’ and would catch myself thinking that I had definitely written it with this goal in mind. But I really hadn’t knowingly done that. And I think THAT is the most exciting thing about writing - we don’t have to know or have responsibility about what the stories we write will become. In fact, I personally think it’s better to not know, to assume no-one will ever read it, as then you don’t censor yourself. I find this really freeing especially due to my stories being what I call auto-fiction. A term I don’t really hear people using in theatre, but for me feels like the only clear way to describe my kind of writing. My stories are always centered very much in the autobiographical but with huge moments of complete fiction. I have a truly terrible memory and I make no effort to try and stick to the exact truth - stories are always better with a bit of embellishment! It’s like that thing people do on dating apps - two truths and a lie. Everyone knows you make the lie close to a truth to make it harder for people to guess.
With My Mum’s a Twat people are always keen to know which bits exactly happened and I always found it hard to try and cut out the moments and plonk the auto bits in one pile and the fiction into another, as they all kind of merge into a tight weave. But here’s two lies and a truth from the play.
1. I used to love eating cat food - Whiskers.2. My mum left me to join a cult.
3. My mum once healed Ken Dodd in Clarks Village, Somerset.
You’ll have to have a listen to find out!
My Mum’s A Twat, written by Anoushka Warden and performed by Susan Wokoma is available on Audible from 4th August 2020