A healthy appetite for drama
The title refers to the comfort food provided by the maternal figure in this dark comedy. McCabe, who is best-known for novels such as The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto, was commissioned by Corcadorca Theatre Company to write The Big Yum Yum, with music by Maurice Seezer.
Set in an indeterminate time in Ireland, McCabe says The Big Yum Yum “is about a lot of things. Mainly, it’s about loneliness and how everybody wants to be minded. Even the most authoritative-sounding person is vulnerable. Everybody has a secret anxiety. And who do you usually go to? The mother, of course. You have all the universal mother figures, such as the Blessed Virgin. It doesn’t matter what shape the mother takes. She is always revered. That’s why a female villain is so awful. If the mother turns rogue, who have you to go to?”
