Ben Powell
Birth Plan is an autobiographical solo show written and performed by Sharmila Peake. Prompted by Peake’s self-set challenge to write a one-woman show, the show is born from her own experiences, with a few liberties, and a wish to tell the fuller, realer story of one woman’s final hour preceding the arrival of her second child, relayed between increasingly frequent contractions.
As Peake notes, the news is still full of reports of failings in maternity care, with some issues having been noted over a decade ago and, given this and her own experiences, she quickly found that she had a story she wanted to tell. The show opens with a last aminute call to best friend and back-up birthing partner Vic as, between contractions, C (Peake) becomes aware that the time has come. The show’s duration then follows her train of thought as we approach the destination of the birth.
Some of the writing risks becoming a little repetitive in its attempt to portray C’s stressed out, cloudy state of mind, particularly early in the script. On occasion, I find myself questioning whether we’re experiencing an inner monologue or being directly addressed as an audience and I think the show would benefit from deciding on this more clearly.
Sound and lighting design both really help portray C’s feeling of isolation from her would-be village, with painful red lights and voice mails and phone calls echoing in her head during contractions, and a simple set choice of large pregnancy affirmation posters frame the action well.
Peake gives a confident performance and carries the show handily, balancing the comic sight of her perched atop an exercise ball and the sometimes quite cathartic content well. She particularly shines later in the show as some of the more heartfelt, contemplative moments of vulnerability.
The biggest takeaway from this show, for me, is the need for more open, honest conversation about the difficulties parents, particularly mothers, can face in the lead up to and immediately following a new arrival and that just because things might be happy, it doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily easy.
Birth Plan is a personal glimpse into the reality of pregnancy and motherhood that does well at highlighting the importance of remembering that it’s not all sunshine and smelly nappies.
Recommended Drink: A comforting cup of tea, to have alongside biscuits and an honest and supportive chat.
You can watch Birth Plan at the Headgate Theatre on October 26th (7:00pm) and 28th (8:30pm). Tickets are available through the Colchester Fringe Online Box Office.
Nana Funk
