"Holding her baby girl, she promises "I'll be perfect for you." Real life, though, soon intervenes. It starts with her breast-feeding problems being airily dismissed by an overworked midwife, and goes all the way downhill from there, in a rollercoaster of unravelling emotions, inexplicable decisions and frustrated attempts to make her voice heard over the cacophony of other voices telling her what she should be feeling/doing. And then there's the tremendous loneliness of it all."
"If all this sounds downbeat and depressing, (the) Woman is the very opposite. Served by exceptional dialogue - crackling, fizzing, scabrous, very in-your-face and very, very funny - Angharad Jones's intelligent direction, and a remarkable quartet of actors, led by the compelling Lizzy Watts as M, it is entirely engaging and often laugh out loud funny. And its barbs land quite expertly."
"Often self-referential, the play is structured like a metaplay, flitting effortlessly between scenes from life and what could be chapters from M's new play. Short scenes with titles projected onto the backcloth, present ever more histrionic events in her life/play. "All the losers I've dated" (I paraphrase slightly) tells of a cringe-making encounter with a former boyfriend, who earns a living selling used towels in a street market, but still feels authorised to"
M is a successful early-career playwright, married, who becomes a new mother and vows to be perfect. Breastfeeding problems are dismissed by an overworked midwife, triggering unraveling emotions, inexplicable decisions, and frustrated attempts to be heard amid competing voices dictating how she should feel and act. Constant fatigue and sleep deprivation breed self-hatred; her child becomes a burdensome presence and her efforts to reclaim an individual life falter. Sharp, scabrous, and very funny dialogue, strong direction and performances, and a metaplay structure balance bleak themes with engaging theatrical energy.
Read at London Unattached
Unable to calculate read time
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