Joe Penhall's play 'Birthday' is a fast and furious ninety
minute comedy of true gender role reversal, infused with a dash of
drama and pathos, featuring Stephen Mangan, Lisa Dillon, Llewella
Gideon and Louise Brealey.
Taking a clever conceit - that men are now capable of carrying
children to term in pregnancy, thus creating an intended equality
among the sexes - Birthday begins as a ribald, slightly potty
mouthed, yet knowing absurdity, before growing into something far
more provocative, pointed and dramatic. Stephen Mangan (BBC /HBO's
'Episodes', the sadly deceased 'Dirk Gently') is
Ed, the quite literally expectant father in the play, his reasons
slowly becoming clear for taking this unusual - yet fictionally
more commonplace - version of pregnancy with his wife Lisa, played
by Lisa Dillon ('Hawking', as the scientist's future wife
Jane alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, and 'Cranford').
Initially the play is firmly focused on the male reaction
to the lack of grace one finds when pregnant, with Ed prodded and
poked around through various indignities by his midwife Joyce,
played by Llewella Gideon ('Nighty Night') with a
delicious, world weary shield from the abuse she clearly receives
from prospective parents on a daily basis. At this stage, the play
is focussed intently on the gross out, gaining plentiful laughs
from the hormonal Ed constantly scratching at his hairy baby bump
and the numerous assaults on his orifices, as well as highlighting
the male intolerance for pain and discomfort. But later, as the
play moves closer to the birth itself, shards of domestic
seriousness appear, with the revelation of the trauma of the birth
of the couple's first child, and a typically noble yet flawed male
impulse to complete his family to try and stem the emotional
aftermath of that event. As Ed's labour goes on longer however, his
anger becomes ever stronger and drama queen-esque, remaining very
funny yet also rather cutting.
The result of this is a rather intriguing examination of
Britain's National Health Service, clearly drawn from personal
experience, which plays up the over stretching of staff due to
sheer weight of numbers and suggesting the situation's exacerbation
from the development of male pregnancy that should, in theory, make
the entire process much quicker. It's around here, with Ed's labour
becoming more and more dramatic that Louise Brealey enters as
Natasha, a registrar who quickly takes charge of the situation with
a kindly professionalism. More forceful than as Molly Hooper in
Sherlock, Natasha becomes the face of reassurance but also impotent
uncertainty from the health professionals as complications arise.
Louise is also quietly and comedically terrifying at donning a pair
of latex gloves and applying a seemingly endless amount of KY Jelly
to her hands...
Birthday is a very funny examination of the inequality of the
sexes when science has supposedly made everything equal. To say
anymore would be to spoil the outcome of this delightful play that
exhibits the often forgotten pain that precedes the joy at the
birth of a child. All four of the cast are superb, and as a broad
examination of gender politics, coupled with laxatives, erection
jokes and a furious desire for raspberry tea, it's probably
unsurpassed. It comes very highly recommended.
Louise Brealey kindly posing at the stage door of the Royal
Court, July 21 2012.
Originally due to finish on August 4 2012, Birthday is now
running until August 11 2012 at the Royal Court Theatre. Ticket
availability can be checked and purchased here