The Queer Motherhood Project by Hannah Phillips

Midland Arts Centre (MAC), Cannon Hill Park, B12 9QH.

3✩✩✩: Review: Joanna Jarvis.

“This powerful show gives validation to the experience of queer mothers.”

The Queer Motherhood Project uses live music, video and spoken word to immerse the audience in the world of queer motherhood. Many of the experiences and passions are clearly recognisable in the heteronormative realm, but these women are considered ‘other’ by society, bringing added pressure to the already loaded and tangled concept of motherhood.

Rachel Jones, Katy Rooke and Elexi Walker bring energy and a sense of cabaret to the show. At times voicing the testimony of queer mothers, singing their stories or acting the emotional rollercoaster of life with a new baby.

Some of the most powerful moments come in films of testimony from women. This showcases the variety of experience, but all with a core of pain from the sense of being excluded. That their experience is somehow not valued.

The show is bookended by powerful testimony from comedian Jen Brister and psychotherapist Dr Stella Duffy. Brister, as the ‘other mother’ not biologically connected to her children still grapples with all the complications of parenthood. Duffy gives voice to the disappointment, regret, pain, and anger of being unable to conceive. She has accepted sadness and a sense of loss, coming to terms with it through love and the strength of partnership.

The format works well but with a few anomalies. The audience quiz feels out of synch with the rest of the show. There are also moments when the spotlight is pointed at the audience which feels uncomfortable, even to the most committed members.

However, this powerful show gives validation to the experience of queer mothers. It obviously spoke strongly to the majority of the viewers but deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.

 Cast:
Rachel Jones
Katy Rooke
Elexi Walker

 Creatives:

Creator and Director – Dr Hannah Phillips
Composition – Nik Haley
Musical Direction and Videography – Rachel Jones
Set Design – Abigail King
Digital Content – Patrick Caulwell
Choreography for Queer Mothers Unite – Liz Wilson
Stage Manager – Seth Curry
Press – Helen Annetts
Digital Marketing – Steph Brown