Brenda’s Got A Baby – Nouveau Riche / New Diorama Theatre, London

An exploration of Black motherhood, societal, familial and personal pressures, Brenda’s Got A Baby raises important issues but struggles to bring them to life.

Brenda’s Got A Baby

I was looking forward to my first trip to New Diorama Theatre’s HQ.  This bold and creative venue incubated the wonderful Operation Mincemeat, and also took the very bold decision back in 2022 to pause their programming and refocus their energy on new thinking and projects.  Their previous collaboration with theatre company Nouveau Riche, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron, played to critical and audience acclaim both at New Diorama Theatre and the Royal Court.

It’s something of a shame, then, that Jessica Hagan’s Brenda’s Got A Baby does not quite reach this same potential.  It has a reasonably solid foundation (unrelated to the Tupac song), but gives the impression of a work which needs a little longer in the incubator to be fully ready. The plot is straightforward, if a little drawn out.  Ama (Anita-Joy Uwajeh) is staring down the barrel of her 30s.  She’s done everything right, by the book.  So when things with her long term boyfriend Dami (Jordan Duvigneau) go wrong, she feels a sudden, urgent pressure to reach some of those missing milestones. Or one milestone in particular at least: to have a baby.

So far, so relatable.  As a former student of a girls’ high school with a high pregnancy rate (the boys’ schools never do, do they?) I can confirm that the societal pressure on women flips quite suddenly from frowning at young mothers to wondering when you will settle down and have a baby.  Today’s women are expected to have it all. Even when reaching the required level of career and financial stability means running down your biological clock.  So I get it.  To a certain extent, at least.

Motherhood At Any Cost

What doesn’t feel as relatable in Brenda’s Got A Baby is how Ama responds to this urgency.  With a narcissistic disregard for those around her which verges on derangement, and makes her an unlikeable character.  In her pursuit of motherhood Ama pushes away friends, ignores what might be going on in her sister’s life, and manipulates her brother in law into uncomfortable situations.  Combined with a lack of naturalism in the acting, direction (Anastasia Osei-Kuffour) and set design (TK Hay), I found myself alienated from a premise which I should in theory have a connection to.

So is Brenda’s Got A Baby, to continue my metaphor, a little premature?  Perhaps.  I think the exposition-heavy first half could do with a decent trim. Its lack of urgency doesn’t begin to drive the action forward until right on the interval.  Grounding the play more, either through the design or through toning down some of the non-naturalistic aspects, might also help.  And in my opinion the references to issues including high rates of Black maternal deaths, low rates of Black sperms donors, and expectations of masculinity for Black men, either deserve more exploration within the text or should be cut.  Their mention in passing invariably feels like the playwright’s voice rather than the characters.

There are moments worth celebrating, for all that. The performances are at their best when there is real passion involved, particularly from Jahmila Heath as Ama’s sister Jade.  Several scenes got a good audience response, including those with Michelle Asante as the young women’s mother. Edward Kagutuzi as brother in law Skippy is endearing as comic relief.  And as unrealistic pressure on younger generations increase, there are themes here worth exploring. While Brenda’s Got A Baby may not have soared to the heights of theatrical brilliance, it carries within it seeds of potential that, with nurturing and exploration, could blossom into a more compelling and resonant experience.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 2.5/5

Brenda’s Got A Baby on until 2 December 2023. Before the show check out a complementary (and complimentary) photography exhibition in the New Diorama Theatre café.