‘I Carried This’ premieres in Wellington in June 5th and runs to June 16th.
Playwright Nicola Pauling talks about her new documentary theatre production ‘I Carried This’ that centres the voices of older women who were birth mothers in the 1950’s and 60’s. The play premieres in Wellington in June.
Reviews - June 2024
“ I Carried This is a sensitive, respectful and courageous production, giving voice to the many women whose babies were taken from them for adoption during the baby scoop era. This part of NZ’s history must not be forgotten and must never be repeated. Thank you for bringing us these stories and in so doing, honouring our mothers.”
“All New Zealanders ought to see this. How and why did we treat these women like this!?”
“Brilliant performance. I liked the way we heard the voice of the mothers at three stages of their lives. So wonderfully portrayed. So powerful.’
Read Gin Mabey’s review, A crucial story told with a gentle hand and straight-down-the-barrel honesty.
Nicola Pauling:
I had known Anne* for about six months. She was a woman in her early 80s and she attended an improv class that I was running. Yes, you heard that right, an improv class. Every week Anne, along with about twelve others, gathered with me to play. Anne laughed a lot in these classes. One day, in a conversation over a cup of tea, someone raised adoption and Anne said, with such a matter of fact-ness that it almost knocked the wind out of me, “I once adopted out of boy, I cried myself to sleep every night for ten years afterwards.” Then she smiled again, as if nothing, and the conversation went somewhere else.
Now, just a year earlier I had finished performing a solo show I had written about the life and death of Margery Hopegood. “She Danced on a Friday” was a family story that involved an adoption. This is likely why Anne’s comment stuck with me and I couldn’t shake it off. I saw Anne as a woman filled with joy. So how had she moved from a state of such despair to the woman I experienced her to be today? What had happened in the intervening years? What had shifted, what had changed for her? If she had healed from that despair, then how? I asked Anne if she would be open to telling her story to me, and she agreed.
Anne was the first of many women I interviewed for the creation of this play. Each lived experience was so different, and yet, the lifelong impact was evident. The ripple effects still in motion. What I have tried to capture in this play is the unique ways these women travelled with their loss. How they carried on, how they built their lives on the foundations of this grief. I wanted to centre the voices of older women in this production because this play is about the passage of time and how it changes us. The stories these women tell are not the same stories they would have told us 60 years ago (had anyone asked.)
This play breaths new light into stories held on to for decades. For Barbara, another of the interviewees, the passage of time has seen a shift from vulnerable young woman to passionate advocate. She is calling for a government apology for the adoption practices of the 50’s and 60’s. “Our government needs to be honest and apologise for the harm caused, she says, “this doesn’t require any more parliamentary discussion or select committees. If other countries can do so, why can’t we?”
For audiences it will be an emotionally impactful experience. During the hour-long show, audiences will follow five stories that reflect one incredible piece of our history. Together, the three-woman ensemble, simply referred to as Young, Middle and Wise, weave together multiple entrancing vignettes; one woman tries to fathom why a tender reunion with her adopted son has released waves of rage she never thought capable of, another is forced to reveal to her husband a secret she was always told he should never know about.
I hope people who see this play will take away a deeper understanding of this part of our collective history. These stories matter and it has been a privilege for me to bring them to the stage.
‘I Carried This’ premieres in Wellington in June 5th and runs to June 16th.