At the beginning of Motherlogues we are told that the five actors we are about to see perform had five days to piece together true stories from women who wanted to share their experiences of being a woman. These ranged from giving birth to losing a child and everything in between. The women who donated their stories wished to remain anonymous but the truth that shone through what they had to say was anything but.
One by one we meet the actors who each set up their individual stories and as the show progresses they become more involved with each other creating a portrait of ‘woman’ using the words of each story to paint the canvas.
Some are funny, such as a wife suggesting she give out the number of a ‘generous’ family friend who has offered her uterus to her and her husband (as they are unable to have a child themselves) to all the couples in need of a surrogate her husband has found on the internet. Some are very educational, such as a woman reliving her first experience of sexual health education. And some are heartbreakingly sad, such as a wife explaining how her ‘natural abortion’ happened moments after she gave up her seat on the tube to a heavily pregnant woman.
One of my favourite moments of the show was when a ‘pregnant pause’ was taken to give the audience a little insight into what it feels like to give birth. Members of the audience (mostly men, as “that seems fair”) were brought out and asked to assume the positions a hospital tells you are the correct ones for aiding your birth. It is clear from the array of positions and their level of helpfulness that we still have a long way to go until we really are being helpful to women in labour.
The evening belonged to all of the women involved, every single one of whom deserves huge admiration for what they achieved but it is Lauren Reed, the brainchild of the production, who deserves the highest praise. What Reed gifted us was a celebration of women by women for everyone, something that theatre is sorely missing at the moment.
CATALINA BLACKMAN
The Open Door 