Baby

Roseanna Purcell in Baby. Image Sean Garland

****

Meet Camilla, aka Linda. A thirty-six year old, single nurse sporting a busy Tinder profile and a bun in the oven. Or, rather, a sponge cake. Which she is currently baking for Maureen’s baby shower. Maureen’s fifth no less. Meanwhile, the childless Camilla craves a proverbial bun in her own oven, metaphorically speaking. Or does she? In Lianne O’Hara’s one woman confessional, Baby, Camilla’s desire for a bundle of joy speaks less to maternal broodiness, or even biological clocks, so much as FOMO and of not belonging to the gang. Her inability to conceive speaking less to infertility so much as FOMO and of not belonging to herself. O’Hara’s cleverly observational, comic road to nowhere proving good for a giggle or three. A potential sow’s ear turned into a silk purse courtesy of supple direction by Liam Halligan and a masterful performance by Roseanna Purcell.

Narratively and dramatically there’s not a lot going on. Camilla bakes a cake as she recounts her jealousies and insecurities towards mothers leading to unsafe sex and a decision to harvest her eggs for conception at a later date. With so little at stake, Camilla’s self-inflicted anxieties offer less a story so much as a self-absorbed, self-obsessed character study. The centre of her own dull universe, showing little sympathy or empathy for others, she pretends she’s pregnant even as she’s relieved that she isn’t. It’s not that Camilla's infertile, it’s that she feels she should have a baby even as it isn’t exactly clear as to why, especially at a time when more and more people are opposed to the idea of having children. But even buying social pressure as a premise, what you cannot buy is Camilla’s ignorance, along with a half a dozen other big asks. Camilla being far too smart to be this stupid, whatever the pressures. Even as a device for comic purposes.

Theatrically, Baby proves a much richer affair. A clever conceit of baking a cake onstage, (incidentally, make sure to grab a slice before you go; Purcell is a top class baker) allows for clever metaphors and similes to abound. Eoin Lennon’s marvellous kitchen full of props loaded with double meanings. In which a transcendent Purcell delivers a consummate performance. Her detailed lexicon of nuance and expression ensuring Camilla becomes likeable, recognisable and relatable. Music by Denis Clohessy, used to convey the passing of time and inject a little new age moodiness, proves wonderfully playful. With everything whisked together nicely under Halligan’s astute and deliciously timed direction.

In the end, despite Camilla’s maternal anxieties, one suspects Chappell Roan and Camilla are more aligned than either might care to admit. Winner of Bewley’s Little Gem Award, the real strength of Baby lies in its lightweight, observational in-jokes strung together to make a sketch of easy laughs rather than a story with oomph. Still, the real winner is the audience given Purcell is an absolute star, enlivening the saturated genre of confessional theatre with another seriously impressive performance. And don’t forget to try the cake as you leave. Scrumptious.

Baby by Lianne O’Hara, runs at Bewley’s Café Theatre until May 3.

For more information visit Bewley’s Café Theatre