(the) Woman – Royal and Derngate, Northampton

Writer: Jane Upton

Director: Angharad Jones

M is a writer, and M is a woman. M is, now, also a mother.

In this exceptional new play, Jane Upton reflects on how motherhood changes perspectives. Not just the perspectives of the mother, but of everyone she is in any sort of relationship with, whether that’s professional or personal. Shaped by Upton’s own experiences it shines a light into those places, those feelings that are often kept hidden. With a successful career behind you, how do you navigate a world that, as M says, judges women for the way they approach motherhood but also judges them if they’re not mothers? How can you deal with people who expect you to carry on as though nothing has changed alongside those who criticise you if you do?

Desperate to tell her own story, M decides to put it all into her new play – but she’s burnt-out: angry and frustrated with those who instead share their own opinions on who she is, who she should be and how she’s doing everything wrong, while her own hormonal changes are making her question her own self-view. Comic, touching and incredibly thought-provoking, the lines become increasingly blurred until you’re not sure if you’re watching M’s experiences, scenes from the play she’s writing, or the results of a sleep-deprived imagination – or are they actually the same thing?

It’s a piece with no padding, where every single line seems to have meaning and intent, and the simplicity of the set means there’s nothing here to distract from the power of the message. Director Angharad Jones has brought together a small, tight-knit company who work extremely well together. Lizzy Watts gives a soul-baring performance as M, delivering Upton’s dialogue with a brutal honesty that makes you feel her suppressed frustration, a frustration that sometimes bursts out before being pushed back down. Struggling to communicate with her husband, with professional contacts who don’t listen to her, how can she fulfil her own needs when society tells her that no one wants to listen to what they are? Alongside Watts are Jamie-Rose Monk, Cian Barry and André Squire who do an outstanding job of creating the plethora of other people in M’s story, each with their own uniquely portrayed characterisation.

A cry from the heart, it’s humorous but with a message that’s too often not heard. Deeply engrossing, its 100 minutes fly by and it comes to an end before you know it. It’s rare to find a piece that might genuinely change your perspective on life and relationships, but this is one.

Unmissable.

Runs until 15 February 2025 and on tour