Starring: Tamsin Outhwaite, Angela Griffin, Jemima Rooper, Nicholas Burns
By: Written by Ben Ockrent, Directed by Tamara Harvey
Run: to 4th October, daily 7.30pm matinees, Thursday & Saturday
Tickets: From £15. From the Box Office
Rating
"Express Yourself" says Jimmy, the lone male in this female tour-de-force comedy, as the story explores contemporary expressions of family and love in the 21st Century that celebrates the lengths family will go to, to "do for family".
Bringing together wit, farce, musical comedy, a nostalgia for Swedish covers of 80s pop classics (and an Ikea showroom style set), Ockrent's Breeders excels as an exemplar of new writing in all elements - theme, characterisation and dialogue that exposes the true awkwardness that can find itself in moments of intimate or familial relationships.
With well-rounded characters reflecting a multiplicity of modern identities, from the DINK lesbian high flyers, recently married, perfect on the surface, missing just one final piece of their puzzle, to the younger long term girlfriend-boyfriend combo struggling to exist financially in the economic climate, to the off-stage characters of the cancer-suffering mother and the much-reminisced spectre of a perfect father, an urban drama unfolds.
Family, expressed in all its glory and raw detail, and the process to parenthood are deconstructed through a scientific, anthropological and comedic lens. The reality of reproduction when "naturally" is not an option is examined, through authentic situations, tensions and reactions.
While Andi (Tamsin Outhwaite), the academic delves into all the research and talks gleely of all the leaky mess that might somehow makes a baby. Caro (Angela Griffin) the lawyer wants to put a legal contract in place to preserve the agreed family arrangement. Sharon (Jemima Rooper) brings a strong representation of the "other" - the antagonist to parenthood but certainly not the villain and what can be often excluded in a supposed "joint decision" as moments of doubt affect each character at different, inappropriate points of the journey.
A surprisingly effective interlude strategy cleverly cuts through the tension and brings the dramatic peaks back to comedy, with the highlight of Rooper's Total Eclipse of the Heart incorporating full blown mood lighting, wind machine effect.
Ultimately the conceit boils down to whether the drivers for decision making - our emotional baggage, our nurturing, our situations - have more of an influence than "Que Sera Sera".
Breeders is playing at St James Theatre as part of the their One Stage season, until 4th October. With outstanding performances and excellent writing, it is a MUST SEE.
Read our interview with Jemima Rooper here.
By Katie Bennett-Hall
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