Mom’s The Word

Production History

Originally produced in Canada, where the authors live, the play has had five sell-out seasons in Vancouver, completed four Canadian tours, and played to a resounding sell-out crowd at the 2001 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. The original Moms got together again for a two-month run in Vancouver in 2002 – their third visit to the theatre where it all began, The Arts Club Theatre. Since 1996, Mom’s the Word and its sequels have been performed to more than 200,000 people across its native country.

Since its conception, Mom’s the Word has become one of the most popular shows ever to be produced in Australia where it has been performed over 700 times. Premiering in 1998 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the show was a theatrical triumph. The Australian version of Mom’s the Word went on to break box office records all over the country, had five national tours and a New Zealand Tour, and the show was celebrated with an extended run at the prestigious Sydney Opera House. Mom’s the Word has now been seen by nearly half a million people in Australia and New Zealand.

Mom’s the Word had its UK premiere in the spring of 2002. Again, the show was a huge success, selling out many performances in advance at all venues, before beginning a four week run at the historic King’s Theatre, Glasgow. The only show to play a longer season in Glasgow was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. The subsequent Scottish Tour set new box office records for numbers of tickets sold and speed of sales at all Scottish venues.

In the spring of 2003, Mom’s the Word debuted in London’s West End at the renowned Albery Theatre with a stellar cast which included Imogen Stubbs, Cathy Tyson as well as one of the authors – Barbara Pollard.

Since 2002, there have been 10 National Tours of the UK and Ireland, playing to sold out house from coast to coast in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.  These tours have routinely featured TV celebrities from such shows as Coronation Street, and continue to play to rapturous audiences.  Mom’s the Word has been performed over 750 times in the UK to more than 400,000 people.

Three American companies have brought the hilarity of motherhood to audiences in Chicago, Minneapolis and Houston. There have also been productions in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa, and Italy and there are preparations for productions in Lithuania, France, Spain Argentina, Brazil, and South America.

These Moms keep giving birth to new productions across the globe.

The Birth

When we first started the Mom’s the Word  project…let’s face it, it was an excuse to get out of the house once a week.  We spent our entire budget on babysitting.  As our first performance loomed our expectations were not very high – we figured as long as our audience was other moms with kids the same age as ours they’d at least know what we were talking about, but everyone else would surely find this a great big bore.  We were prepared for a short run and a quick return to “normal” life.  Instead, we were greeted by an amazing outpouring from everyone in our audiences – understanding, connection, sympathy and laughter – a whole lot of laughter.  And success.

Mom’s the Word turned into a giant snowball rolling down a hill with us chasing behind it.  We adapted, sometimes quickly and sometimes not, but we eventually turned ourselves into a business, and we became that most rare of entities – a Canadian Theatrical Success, and THEN a Canadian International Theatrical Success.  What started out as the plain unvarnished truth of our personal lives became something to be discussed and dissected in a rehearsal hall, sometimes in languages we didn’t understand.

We were occasionally asked to make changes – to cut, to add, to make things funnier.  In other countries some things didn’t make sense, and some jokes didn’t work. We found that even the title only really worked in Canada because we spell it “mom” but we pronounce it “mum”.  The best decision we ever made was always to cast actors who were mothers themselves.  They knew what we were talking about, and they knew their own audience and their own community.  They never steered us wrong.

10 years went by amazingly quickly.  We all went on to other projects, sometimes even other professions, but we always stayed in touch as friends as well as business partners.  And these kids!  Half of them are taller than half of us.  We look at them now and we think…those first couple of years were a PIECE OF CAKE!  What did we have to worry about?  Keeping them alive!?  How hard was that compared to what we’re dealing with now?

So it seemed like a good time to start writing again.  Actually none of us had stopped, so it seemed like a good idea to think about a new show.   Sequels are scary.  You’re either too much like the first one, not enough like the first one or just not as good as the first one.   We decided to compare ourselves to ourselves as little as humanly possible, and we decided that our best bet was to stick to the original spirit of Mom’s the Word – tell the truth no matter how humiliating.   So far, so good.

Production History

Like its predecessor, Mom’s the Word 2 – Unhinged had its world premiere at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver, Canada.  The creators performed in the production which opened in the fall of 2005 to rave reviews, standing ovations and a sold-out run.  During its first year of life in Canada, Mom’s the Word 2 was performed 125 times to over 40,000 people and an average of 90% venue capacity.

Before Mom’s the Word 2 had even played its first performance, it had generated buzz amongst producers in Australia and the UK, both territories where the original play continues to enjoy tremendous success.  By the summer of 2006, Burberry Productions was in full production mode in Melbourne, Australia and in mid August the OZ premiere opened to unprecedented advanced sales for a non-musical stage production.  Mum’s the Word Teenagers (as it’s titled in Australia and the UK) ran for 3 months and played to over 55,000 people.

Simultaneously, Robert Kelly Productions was developing the first European production in Glasgow and Dundee, which opened in the fall to a similarly ecstatic reception of critical raves and audience excitement.

Mom’s the Word 2 / Mum’s the Word Teenagers continues to be revived throughout the world, with productions ongoing or in development in Canada, Australia the UK and Ireland.

Since its premier in 2005, Mom’s the Word 2 – Unhinged has been performed to more than 250,000 people across three continents, and with each passing year, these Moms keep unhinging new productions across the globe.

Production History

Twenty years ago, six professional actors found themselves fully employed but ironically unpaid in the shocking role of “new mothers”. They began meeting once a week to create a piece of theatre they hoped would explode some of the mommy-myths they’d encountered. There had been lots written about the glory of motherhood but little of the gory bits. They talked, they laughed, they cried, they whined, they complained, they laughed some more but they didn’t get anything down on paper. With a deadline looming, in the tradition of oral history, they remembered each other’s stories and decided on which stories HAD to be told. Thus was born Mom’s the Word.

The show became an instant success at home in Vancouver and went on to become an international sensation. To date, Moms the Word has united parents in 17 different countries and has been translated into 11 languages.

As their children grew older and taller, the “moms” grew older and wider. Suddenly thrust into the world of teenagers they again sought protection, using the only tool they had: Public Exposure! This second show was called Mom’s The Word 2: Unhinged.

Now the “Moms” have combined both shows in Moms the Word: For Crying Out Loud to give you the full journey of parenting from “the toothless to the ruthless.” 

Mom’s the Word:  For Crying Out Loud was originally produced with the title ‘Mom’s the Word – Remixed’ in Vancouver, BC in 2009 at the Arts Club Theatre Company (Granville Island Stage).