Focusing on expecting mother Bec (Phoebe McIntosh), who is in labour during her homebirth in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Soon Life is a touching, honest, and funny play. It was inspired by writer Phoebe McIntosh (who also plays Bec) and the creative team's own real-life birth experiences, as well as reported scandals within the UK maternity services. 

 

Bec has a carefully laid-out birth plan and is listening to a positive birth podcast when her ex and father of her child, Alex (Joe Boylan), shows up unannounced, changing the course of what Bec expected her birth to be like. With the midwife nowhere to be seen, Bec is forced to go through the intense stages of labour, not quite how she planned, as well as the emotional history of her past relationship. 

 

The Soon Life is set over the course of one day, portraying the labour journey of Bec alongside Alex. Having it set over one day builds tension, made clear from the start when Bec doesn't want the answer to the door to Alex, who forces his way inside despite Bec's refusal. As the intensity of her labour heightens, so does the dynamic between them as they start to question how things ended, how they'll co-parent, and what the future holds for them.

They argue continuously at the start, but there is a shift in emotions over the play, portraying the real-life hope and emotional rollercoaster that pregnancy and birth can bring.

 

Tension is also built by the set being confined to the living room space. Sarah Beaton, set and costume designer, clearly envisioned the set as a female space with its decor and the birthing equipment, too. This felt empowering, showing a woman making independent choices about her birth and birth story. Bec was very humorous and made the audience laugh with her expressions, sarcasm, and relevant jokes. 

 

Lighting is also cleverly used by Alex Musgrave to shift scenes, and music, curated by Beth Duke, is used to display different emotions, and the sounds of Bec's contraptions are used to shift scenes, too, building up to the impending birth. 

 

Some scenes are very graphic, but this was done extremely well and was a brilliant way to depict the realistic portrayal of what women can go through during labour and birth. However, the birth experience depicted in Soon Life is just one of many. Director Sarah Meadows herself commented that "The Soon Life presents birth in ways that, to our knowledge, have never been seen on stage before... In this production, I want to explore the opposing extremes of what childbirth is and represents as this extraordinary, ordinary process and want to pull at time and reality, which get turned inside out during labour."

 

The Soon Life will be running at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 18th October 2025.

 

Review:  Cara-Louise Scott-Lapish