Content note: miscarriage
The birth of Cathrine Frost’s first child was very traumatic. Little did she know the petrifying realisation that her baby was pressing against her umbilical cord, meaning it couldn’t breathe, would be the first of many big realisations upon becoming a mother.
What follows the birth is postpartum depression, as Frost feels unable to love her new baby. Before this she suffers from the miscarriage of her first pregnancy, and suffers still with the lack of knowledge that this is an extremely common occurrence. Estimates vary, but it is thought to be that around 1 in 8 known pregnancies end in miscarriage.*
At once informative and entertaining, Frost surprises the audience with her candour. Her nudity is also unexpected, as she performs the Greek style of karate, called Pankration, to fight against Socrates’ misleading philosophies about giving birth. She keeps nothing from her audience, and spares us no details of the graphic nature of her fertility journey.
The staging is fantastical, covered in sparkly streamers and glittery pom poms, it feels like we’re in a disco-womb. The soundscape is chosen beautifully, thumping with dubstep beats as she strips bare, then soothing with delicate piano chords that underpin the tender moments.
Audience members do more than just watch, as Frost pulls various individuals onstage to play different characters in her tale. Due to her frequently bizarre requests, some spectators refuse to join, at times stunting the flow of the show. As we delve deep into the relaying of her emergency c-section, the audience participation feels like an unnecessary addition to brutally honest storytelling.
Frost plays the collective cool Norwegian aunt, whose lilting accent is at once calming and quirky. She gives us the information she wished she had before embarking on her chaotic journey to motherhood, it is a sweet gift that she gives to everyone in attendance. The complications of pregnancy is a story that is rarely told in such a raw manner, and Frost does so with great authenticity.
*https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/miscarriage/
