This Is My Family
Let me introduce you to Nicky (played by Nancy Allsop), she’s the 13-year-old at the heart of our story. She’s more interested in storytelling and creative writing than she is academic work and she’s good at it too. Her writing about her family has won a competition, a holiday of a lifetime to wherever the family might like to go. She, in turn, introduces us, the audience, to her family: Mum: Yvonne (Gemma Whelan) born to lead, and desperately trying to lead the family through its chaotic existence. Dad: Steve (Michael Jibson) having his own midlife crisis whilst still trying to be a good dad and attempt new things from roller blading to learning Arabic in his pursuit of holding onto his youth. And there’s older brother Matt, who at 17 appears to grunt his way through life while insisting he’s an adult. His younger sister still sees him as her knight in shining armour, but he’s more focussed on himself and his girlfriend.
This rather dysfunctional nuclear family is augmented by Aunty Sian (Victoria Elliott) whose roaming eye has currently landed on a fit young man name Dave, and lastly, Granny May (Gay Soper) who some might say is beginning to lose it. However, Nicky is still proud to declare (by way of a very confident and tuneful Allsop): “This is my family”!
With music and book by Tim Firth there is more than a hint of Calendar Girls the Musical in the writing, but this is much closer to a sung-through work, and for my liking has a little too much recitative and not enough of the aria. Don’t misunderstand me, I loved the concept, especially the humour revealed in each character but sadly some of this is lost in and under the music. The drive for narrative removes many of the “button moments” (signals for the audience to applaud) making it difficult for us to show our appreciation of the company in the early scenes.
The mainly on-stage band (including a full harp part which you rarely see) is a delight – although in some places the lack of any brass means the accompaniment is at times a little thin or unsupported.
This Is My Family is certainly character-led and as the evening goes on you can feel the audience warming to the journey each is on. So much so, that it’s hard to think that you have been watching actors and more that you’ve witnessed a true story! The clever thing about this work is that we all know families like this – or we’re in one! If we are honest, we can all relate to many of the underlying experiences of each character’s narrative. For example, when Nicky describes Mum as the driver of the Mumbulance we can all picture someone who seems to live to play this emergency service!
All in all, this new, modern British musical comedy feels almost there and is well worth seeing because I predict it could fly. All it needs are a couple of bigger musical numbers and potentially a little more spoken, rather than sung lib. This said, I happily see it again – which I don’t say about every show I go to!
I leave reminding you that “you can’t choose your family” – but also thinking “you should choose to see this musical”.
This show was reviewed at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London on the 28th May 2025 where it runs until the 12th July 2025. Tickets available here: This Is My Family - Southwark Playhouse Elephant
Review written by Paul Wood
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Photo credit: Mark Senior
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