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An extraordinary play that puts the audience inside the maelstrom of its characters' lives…a multifaceted portrait of motherhood.
—Arts Desk
Bo is busy balancing the pressures of work and the needs of her struggling daughter. When her mother, the irrepressible force-of-nature Beth, is admitted to hospital following a stroke, the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past.
Backstroke is a kaleidoscopic and compassionate play that offers a heartfelt, unsentimental portrayal of the slippery cord of maternal connection
(The Stage).
Touching, mesmerising, ferociously unsentimental.
—The Times
An emotional and intimate play…a cathartic experience that stays with you long after you leave the theatre behind.
—Radio Times
Compelling and astutely observed…original and moving.
—Guardian
Gripping and unflinching.
—London Theatre
Bittersweet…though fraught with knotty tension, a faint ray of tender light gently emerges from beneath, slowly illuminating the room with heartfelt warmth.
—BroadwayWorld
Works its way under your skin quietly, lingering long after you've left the theatre…Mackmin's writing shines in the way it captures shifting emotions…a deeply moving experience.
—West End Best Friend
Anna Mackmin is an award-winning writer and theatre director. Her plays include Backstroke (Donmar Warehouse, London, 2025). Her first novel Devoured was published in 2018. It was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, and named the New Angle Book of the Year.