Topless Mum

Synopsis

Based on a recent event, Topless Mum in Dead Hero Shocker!! looks at the consequences of a newspaper editor buying 'fake' pictures from a soldier invalided out of Afghanistan. The story follows both that of the soldier's reception on returning home and the contortions that the newspaper people go through to deal with their 'error'.

Our Review:

3 June 2008

After working for some years in Hollywood, Ron Hutchinson has popped up again with two impressive new plays: Topless Mum (first seen in an earlier version at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol), in which a badly injured soldier, returning from duty in Afghanistan, sells some pictures of abused prisoners to a tabloid newspaper; and last year’s Moonlight & Magnolias, about a day of disaster in the making of the movie Gone With the Wind (returning to the Tricycle next month).

The new title is slightly misleading, suggesting a raunchy flesh fest rather than the carefully plotted tale that transpires: making overt reference to the Daily Mirror fiasco in which the editor Piers Morgan published fake pictures of abusive incidents that never took place, Barry from Bolton’s mobile phone pix are similarly exposed to be contrived in the wake of a triumphalist media splash.

The unnamed newspaper’s tactic of “contrite” recovery i...

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Latest User Review

Mike - 19 June 2008:

The play is absorbing right from the start and on the evening I went along, the whole audience was engaged throughout and applauded genuinely and enthusiastically. All roles are explored well by a very fine cast. This play deserves far more than the Guardian's meagre one star. I hope the critics don't put off interested theatre-goers. ...

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