“Mama” Evokes A Time Gone By
Published: April 30th, 2010
By: Jeff Genung

“Mama” evokes a time gone by

It’s hard to believe now that there was a time without television, without computers, cell phones, DVRs or iPads ... it was a time preserved now only in sepia-toned nostalgia, a simpler time when family and human interactions mattered the most.

If you need a reminder of that kinder, gentler era, then this weekend’s production of “I Remember Mama” at Sherburne-Earlville is definitely for you.

The play by Jon VanDruten, based on Kathryn Forbes’ fictionalized memoir, “Mama’s Bank Account,” tells the story of the Hansons, a loving, close-knit family of Norwegian immigrants living in San Francisco in the early 1910s.

I could give you a run-down of the plot, but it’s really not necessary. Nothing earth-shatteringly dramatic happens in “I Remember Mama,” really. It’s a series of low-key vignettes told through the eyes of Katrin, one of the Hanson children who aspires to be a writer. Older brother Nels wants to go to high school, so the family has to make sacrifices to come up with the tuition. Little Dagmar has surgery, and Mama devises a plot to sneak into the hospital to see her. The family cat becomes ill, and is miraculously cured. Uncle Chris dies. Mama helps Katrin get her work published. Again, nothing terribly compelling, plot-wise.

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