Anti Slam

During the live recording of a seventies top of the pops style chart show, three female dancers perform Pans’s People style routines for a studio audience. Meanwhile, an unseen male host mixes chart hit titles with landmark moments in feminism, reproductive rights, and increasingly personal references about the dancers performing. Gradually the world of the chart show breaks down, as these women consider what it means for them to be childfree/childless.

Paula began research and development on #thebabyquestion in 2017, quickly realising that unlike her previous performances, this was a subject that felt too expansive for a solo work. In order to create something more universal than her own experience, she approached Luca Rutherford and Catriona James, theatre makers she respected, was excited by and liked, and both with very different relationships to the baby question in their personal lives, than her own.

Together the three of them share an interest in using performance as a way of sparking conversations with audiences about themes that matter to them. #thebabyquestion is their first collaboration.

Co-commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre, The Gulbenkian, Camden Peoples Theatre & Upstart Theatre. Supported by funding from Arts Council England. Rehearsed at Old Diorama Arts Centre.

Poster/flyer image photographed/art directed by Field & Mclygn. Graphic design by Ben Gregory