My Mother Said I Never Should

I don’t know if you’ll ever love me as much as I love you, but one day you’ll understand why I’ve done this to you.

Doris, born illegitimate in 1900, exchanges her budding teaching career for marriage and motherhood. When the war is over, her daughter Margaret marries an American and has Jackie, who becomes an archetypal 60s rebel. When Jackie can’t face being a single mother, it is decided that baby Rosie will be brought up as Margaret’s own. That’s the plan anyway . . .

Charlotte Keatley’s award-winning play is a moving exploration of the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the consequences of breaking the most sacred taboo of motherhood. My Mother Said I Never Should is about the choices we make which determine the course of our lives and how it is never too late to change.

This edition was published to coincide with the revival of the play at the St James Theatre, London, in 2016, starring Maureen Lipman and Katie Brayben.