Named after Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, ‘Virgin Of The Rocks’ (also known as ‘Madonna Of The Rocks’), this one-woman show opens with Marie Hamilton cradling a baby. Dressed in Virgin Mary robes and wearing a crown of sparkly stars, forks and baby spoons, she’s a striking image of motherhood as icon. But the illusion quickly shatters when her babysitter calls, and it’s soon clear that Hamilton is literally on the rocks.

She plays a new mum juggling declining mental health, a fraught relationship with her own mother and a burning desire to return to work. We don’t get much of a sense of her past career to fully feel what she’s missing, but her creative frustration comes across as she takes us through the process of writing the very musical we’re watching. 

Whether mothers really can have it all, and at what cost, is a well-worn theme in theatre. But here it feels personal and fresh, with a nod to the generations before who sidelined their own artistic careers to raise families. While some songs are more memorable than others, Hamilton’s raw yet funny performance should prove, once and for all, that people really should care about ‘mum shows’. 

Madonna On The Rocks, Assembly Roxy, until Sunday 24 August, 11.55am; main picture: Peter Williams.