Loveday Writing

Write a critical review of a play or a film you’ve seen recently**

Good Mourning Mrs Brown–Mrs Brown’s Boys Live

My first live experience of Mrs Brown’s Boys at the WIN Entertainment Centre on January 23 didn’t disappoint.

The show kicked off before the show even started with Mrs Brown (Brendan O’Carroll) giving the audience humorous and observant evacuation instructions in case of a fire.

As it was my first live experience, I wasn’t sure what to expect content-wise. To my pleasure, it was a combination of the material from the first and second series of the television show. It would have been nice to have seen some new content, however any audience members who might have brought their friends along who may have never seen it before, would find it easy to follow. The lack of new content was made up by the reworking of well-known jokes, which I appreciated. Standout examples of this include Mrs Brown’s religion rap and Dermott’s way of naming the twins (later revealed to be triplets), which provided a background to how they got their names.

It would have been nice to have had Mark, Bono and Trevor included. However having Martin Delany portrayed Mick as opposed to Trevor was a nice surprise as it was a good opportunity to show off his talents. On another note, as much as I love Grandad as a fodder for jokes and the occasional slapstick comedy, what I loved even more was his heart-to-heart with Dermott which showed his depth as a character. 

Overall, the combination and reworking of material made a solid new story that both long-time and new fans will appreciate. The use of the material and the inevitable laughs made Good Mourning Mrs Brown worth watching.

 

**Reference: Marsden J 1998, Everything I Know About Writing, Pan Macmillan, Australia.