THE Next Door But One community arts collective will present York writer-director Matt Harper's play Any Mother Would in memory of his mother, Lorraine, who passed away last October.

She inspired many of the stories within the play and next month's show will now be a Pay What You Think production with all money donated at the three performances at York St John University going to Cancer Research UK.

Matt set up Next Door But One in 2012 to encourage people to tell their own stories and revel in doing so. Since then, the company has worked with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Housing Trust, the Centre For Global Education, Your Consortium, Filey Ladies Monday Club, women's support groups, cultural markets and youth groups.

Matt started writing Any Mother Would in 2013. Prompted by stories of family, motherhood and community that had been told to the company by others, he began to weave these stories with his own family's tales and memories.

"At the time, it seemed like all the [theatre] work that was being produced was incredibly fast paced, high tech, with bassy underscores and content that was epic and aimed to shock, so I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could write something that was gentle, humble in content and focused on the smaller more immediate qualities of life," he says.

"Any Mother Would has now become a sincere and slightly comic honouring of family. I hope everyone who comes to watch it sees part of their family being celebrated too."

York Press:

The show poster for Any Mother Would

What happens in Matt's play? "Much like David Attenborough shows his viewers the hidden, lovingly guarded, intimate moments of nature, Any Mother Would does the same, but in a three-bed detached, in a rural cul-de-sac. Frances Towers is a mother, Methodist and much loved maverick and we are in her living room. In her nest made of photos, piles of paper, ornaments and knick-knacks from years gone by," he reveals.

"She busily flits from one job to the next, while simultaneously caring for, amusing, aggravating and over-feeding her family. If that sounds quite normal, well, this is no ordinary woman – because there is no such thing! In the only way she can, she takes everything that her son, daughter and husband throw at her and transforms it into something that works. It may be a bit rickety and slightly faulty in places, but it works."

Semi-autobiographical and infused with stories shared with Next Door But One over the years, Any Mother Would does not aim to revolutionise or reimagine family dynamics, says Matt. "Rather, it gives time and importance to the forgotten or overlooked stories that create the tapestry of who we are.

The play promises to be an amusing, relatable and heart-warming experience which sends you off home to tell your own stories."

Next Door But One's Any Mother Would will run at Theatre 3, York St John University, Lord Mayor's Walk, on March 11 at 7.30pm and March 12 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. For tickets, visit anymotherwould.eventbrite.co.uk or nextdoorbutone@outlook.com