A heartwarming tale of two families living under one roof - Bruce Whitehead
During lockdown a guilty pleasure was going to bed listening to Radio 4’s Moth Hour. It began on US public radio, solo storytelling to a live audience. Kate Barry’s narrative, ‘Kate, Allie & the '86 Mets’ might easily have made the cut.
Kate's tale opens at their Long Island home where the family, including her recently divorced mother Grace, is watching their underdog New York Mets team win the World Series in 1986. They're joined by Grace's bestie Dorothy, also recently sans-husband, and her young family who've been made homeless by Hurricane Gloria. All the kids get on riotously. The awesome time they all have together leads to summer camps, and Grace and Dorothy's social life blossoms around a local bridge club.
The two single moms realise they all get on so well in Long Island that they propose building another storey on the house to live together, to save money. When one of the kids complains there's no pool – the moms agree: they'll build one!
Life continues idyllically before the pressures of working life force wannabe film maker Kate to spend Friday nights as a helpline worker on the 67th floor of an investment bank. She's in tears and sees a therapist who looks for clues to her feelings in the family setup. When Kate assures the woman it's just like the hit-TV show Kate & Allie – two friends who share a home with their two families for money reasons – the counsellor points out that one of the TV women eventually leaves to set up home with a new man. Kate blinks, and the thought is left hanging.
All through the show I couldn't decide if the story was fiction (authentic family photos and memorabilia are handed round the audience). When the lights came up, Grace stood up smiling in the audience. Or was she?…
Barry's deadpan delivery felt ominous and I kept waiting for some catastrophe to hit, but when it comes, the Big Reveal is anything but a catastrophe. Kate, Allie and the '86 Mets is yet another source of joy in a worrying world.
Venue 140, Ruby at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower, 9.40pm, until August 24