Built upon the transcripts of real women, "The Maternity Monologues" seeks to demystify the experiences of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Part of Theater for the New City's Dream Up Festival.
From the show:
Written in the tradition of The Vagina Monologues, The Maternity Monologues is an episodic play featuring a unique chorus of all female voices working through the taboo subjects of pregnancy, birth, and child-rearing. Just as Eve Ensler’s play sought to break down the barriers of shame around the word vagina, and the recent Bush Theatre production Hijabi Monologues challenged stereotypes of Muslim women, The Maternity Monologues demystifies the female experience of pregnancy, birth, and mothering. Having trained as a BBC journalist the writer, Catherine Higgins-Moore interviewed women about their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. She built on those transcripts adding fictional scenarios and voices, pairing them with current events to create honest and previously unspoken dialogues. At times darkly funny, sad, angry and isolated the voices in the play are an honest depiction of how these women feel about their changing bodies, finances, relationships, and mental and physical health as well as how they are valued from conception onwards. The play offers a uniquely honest look through fresh eyes at a brutal and beautiful timeless theme.
