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‘We are very, very hard on ourselves’: why so many mothers will identify with Dear Evan Hansen
Rebecca McKinnis and Lauren Ward, who play two emotionally stretched mums, muse on what the West End hit musical has to say about how tough it is raising kids
In Dear Evan Hansen, a socially anxious high school senior becomes emotionally enmeshed with the family of a fellow student who has taken his own life. Yet, the character who launches into the show’s opening number is Heidi, Evan’s mother, who is raising him alone and finds herself struggling to support her child as he grows up and away from her. Anybody Have a Map?, Heidi’s heartfelt admission of maternal cluelessness, is a soliloquy cum rock ballad performed straight to the audience. It’s a treat to see maternal preoccupations – fear of failing your children, frustration at your inevitable shortfalls – voiced with such candour.
“There is that underpinning of guilt that just always hangs around,” says Rebecca McKinnis, who stars as Heidi, and is a single parent herself. “It’s like, ‘are we doing the right thing?’ No one knows, everyone’s just trying to do their best.”
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