"(the) Woman" by Jane Upton.

New Perspectives and Royal & Derngate.

Nottingham Playhouse.

The play is about a writer who is trying to create work, alongside being completely consumed by motherhood.  It’s about how motherhood changes you, but also changes how other people see you and how you are somehow meant to hide so much of who you are to be taken seriously and to progress and to be bankable.

It follows M from the birth of her first child and progresses over the years in "snapshot" presentations of her life, and we are introduced to various other characters in the play, all played by the other three actors.

It pulls no punches as to the difficulties motherhood is. It shows how exhausting the process of being a parent is when trying to keep all of the juggling balls up in the air at the same time.

M pitches her new work to two men as a story about motherhood, and what a woman goes through during this intense period, but they want to change the perspective to become some kind of science-fiction, thriller musical, making it clear that it would be their way or no way! Needless to say, a writer has to make a living so starts to come around to their way of thinking..... for now, at least!

Jane Upton's writing is extremely sharp and well observed, bring forth the tiredness, the loneliness, fear, needs and anger of being a parent alone in a relationship with your child. Some may not like the rawness of the script, but life is raw, whether we like it or not. Interwoven is wittiness throughout, often at the absurdity of some of the situations that life, keeping a relationship going, having a sex life and being a parent throws up.

Lizzy Watts plays M - the Woman, the writer, the mother. M is burnt out, angry, lonely, craving intimacy but disengaged, and terrified of the future. M wants to tell her story, her way. But, everyone around her shares their opinions on who she is, who she should be, and how she’s messing everything up. Recently I have seen plays where the main character is never away from the stage, and this is another where Lizzy is on stage all of the time.

Jamie-Rose Monk plays  every other female role in "(the) Woman". Every character role that Jamie-Rose plays, from M's Mother, to M's bestie, to a fellow nursey mother, to M's therapist; every role is made to be different to the last and all are wonderfully truthful and funny. Taking just one of the scenes where M asks her mother to listen to a letter that M has written to herself, just a facial change from Jamie-Rose creates laughter.

André Squire and Cian Barry play all the male roles, and there are quite a few of these to work through for both actors. André's role as M's husband is a really raw and honest part as they discuss their intimacy issues, and there's no pulling punches language wise either with Cian's role as M's former boyfriend. Both Cian and André team up as M's publishers, and you can almost see the slime ooze from this pair in the way that they speak to M and try and mould M's work to what they want, and not what M wants to write.

Directed by Angharad Jones, she brings out the rage, the anger, the frustration as well as the hilarity and absurdity of Upton's writing and characters in this play. It speeds along at a fine pace, not once applying the brakes. Assistant Director is Jessy Roberts.

Designer is Sara Perks. The stage is bare apart from a symmetrical bank of lights at either side of the wings. The  only additions to this are a few props that are brought on to stage to create various items like desks, chairs, a pram etc. With this minimalist design, it delivers everything needed for the cast and doesn't distract from the speech or action.

Lighting Design is by Lily Woodford.

Sound Designer is Bella Kear. On the subject of sound, the last piece of music we hear is such a strong and perfect choice to close this play on. Patti Smith's 1988 song "People Have The Power", which says absolutely everything and sums up what you've just been watching.

Dramaturg by Sarah Dickenson.

Video Designer is Matt Powell. On the backdrop you get to read video prompts, almost like the headlines of the chapters of a book, which also helps to create the subject of the next "snapshot" section of M's life. Simple and effective in order to move the story on to the next chapter of M's life. Associate Video Designer is Farah Ishaq.

Movement Director is Lucy Glassbrook.

Stage Manager is Dan McVey.

Tech Coordinator is Alison Willcox.

There are trigger warnings (contains strong language, references of a sexual nature and references to baby loss) and lasts for one hour and forty-five minutes with no interval. The strength of the script and the power of these performers make this length seem half that.

"The Woman" is at The Nottingham Playhouse until Tuesday 11 March.

Photos by Manuel Harlan.