VALLEY WEEKEND : Psychology Stirs Ideas for Writer, Student : Playwright’s ‘Mother, Is That You?’ delves into a difficult relationship between child and a needy, alcoholic parent.

W. Somerset Maugham is remembered today as a novelist of the first half of the century. What most people don’t recall is that for many years Maugham was also the top playwright in England. Although he never practiced, he also had a medical degree, and once said that his work with patients when he was an intern was the best training any writer could have.

Playwright Victoria Saxon feels the same way. She is on her way to acquiring a master’s degree in psychology, and has found the training invaluable to her writing. Her play “Mother, Is That You?” is at Studio City’s Lionstar Theatre.

“I really love the combination of the two,” she said. “A lot of the ideas for this play were born in classes I had in psychology, people talking about family relationships. They stir my juices and help me write.”

Although the play is not autobiographical, Saxon said that many of the feelings and emotions were derived from her journal entries. The play focuses on the relationship between a mother and daughter.

“In this case,” Saxon, who is also directing, says the two are so close, “the mother and daughter almost breathe the same breaths.”

In the play, the over-attachment has been caused by the divorce of the daughter’s parents, the stress of the mother’s single parenthood, and her resulting alcoholism. The mother cannot let the daughter go, and the daughter cannot break away.

“The process of individualizing,” Saxon said, “becomes more difficult. That’s sort of the whole key. It happens sometimes in divorced families that the mother relies heavily on the child, so that child really doesn’t get the opportunity to be a child. It’s a difficult way to grow up.”

Saxon said she is not trying to shove a statement down the audience’s throat, but allows that there is a statement in the play.

“We need relationships,” she said. “We need to process information with other people. We need to have hugs. And finding that balance between what’s too close, and what’s too distant, is difficult. It’s difficult for the parent and the child. If the play has a focal point, it’s that we do need to find out who we are, and come from our own personal perspectives as individuals, but at the same time to remember that we do need other people.”

* “Mother, Is That You?” Lionstar Theatre, 12655 Ventura Blvd. (above Jerry’s Famous Deli), Studio City. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 17. $12. (310) 657-4556.

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One often wonders why a director takes on a particular play, especially one that has become a theater staple since its premiere.

Such a play is Craig Lucas’ “Prelude to a Kiss,” the charming fable of a young married couple whose lives are disrupted when an unknown old man magically changes personas with the bride.

Pamela Hall is guiding the Sunday brunch staging of the play at North Hollywood’s Actors Workout Studio. For Hall, the major element that draws her to the play is the chemistry between the actors playing the young couple. Which is why Hall is directing the play with actors Jim Kocher and Julie Dolan in the lead roles.

“It’s got to be a spark-fest,” Hall said. “If you hire the right actors, you can just sit back and enjoy yourself. There’s just got to be a chemistry between the two people. You can’t teach it, and you can’t direct it. And when Michael Vincent Allen auditioned for the old man, I knew I was set. Their strength made it appealing to do a play that’s been done.”

* “Prelude to a Kiss,” Actors Workout Studio, 4735 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends March 10. $12.50, includes brunch. (818) 506-3903.

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Many a big-name star in England got his or her start in pantos, or pantomimes. Cross-dressing, musical turns and low, sometimes bawdy, comedy are intertwined in popular children’s stories. In the example of the Mayflower Club’s current offering, the action centers around the children’s classic “Dick Whittington.” But, as in England, children are encouraged to attend only the matinees. The humor gets much bawdier at evening performances.

Pantos are pretty standardized, with the Dame a man in drag, the Principal Boy a lovely girl in shorts and high heels, and of course an evil villain. This is a rare chance for American audiences to see a theatrical tradition that has been a British favorite for over a century.

* “Dick Whittington,” Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturday matinee (Jan. 27), 1 p.m. Ends Feb. 3. $10; children under 16, matinee only $5. (818) 760-9367.