The Non-Parent Trap

In a world where Mumsnet can influence general elections, tabloid magazines conjure celebrity pregnancies out of post-dinner bloats, and Donald Trump reserves the right to grab your pussy at any moment, every woman’s reproductive status seems to have become public property.
This one-woman show from writer, performer and broadcaster Nina Davis, explores our modern obsession with other people’s procreation. This funny and poignant show investigates the lives of the 1 in 4 women in the UK who will never have children - through choice, circumstance, or tragedy – as they navigate a culture in which children are increasingly prioritised, and parenting glorified.

Having found that their fertility was the conversational property of strangers at every turn - from guests at parties, to men in the street, Nina Davis, and co-writer Anna Bliss Scully have set about creating a show which explores how and why they found themselves feeling they needed to defend, explain or apologise for not being mothers.
Public debate has recently been rife as to whether Theresa May can be considered “to have a stake in the future” as a childless female prime minister; actress Jennifer Aniston was pushed to declare in 2016 that she was “fed up” with her years of body-shaming by tabloid newspapers scrutinising her for signs of pregnancy: there is still something inherently suspicious about the childless woman. It seems that no woman, however high profile, and whatever her achievements, is safe from scrutiny, but how did society come to this? How did something so personal become so public? Do all childless women live alone with cats? Are they all cold, ambitious and selfish? Are they in fact witches? Why do we care?
The Non-Parent Trap is looking for these answers and many more.
Nina Davis has been a writer, performer and broadcaster for nearly 20 years. Her work includes performances with Alice Lunt’s Picnic (Underbelly) and international cabaret legends The Wau Wau Sisters (Pleasance), directing short documentaries for the National Theatre, and presenting a weekly radio show What’s Off Stage for Soho Radio. Anna Bliss Scully has been a theatre maker for 15 years, working as a designer, director and dramaturge for companies including the Arcola, the Bush, the Young Vic and True/fiction Theatre. Neither of them currently has children*.

[*In case you were interested]
The Non-Parent Trap
Camden Fringe