OH BABY!

About

“…At times it’s like a circus, at times it’s a raunchy, provocative, cabaret-like act, at times a hilarious comedy and at others a harshly realistic and moving drama.”
Taranaki Daily News ’09

OH BABY! is a bizarre circus theatre, a hospital melodrama, a concoction of great emotion, heightened physicality and hilarity… THINK ER ON ACID!

Pathologically afraid of giving birth, struck by womb envy, mad with love, sprung by a biological clock and obsessed with the world’s falling sperm count, OH BABY! dissects the experiences of the doctors who run this unusual fertility clinic. OH BABY! blends comedy, aerial dance, acrobatic theatre and innovative design to bring you this funny, sexy saga of new life.

“….breathtakingly spectacular, raucously funny and delicately intimate…..Co. Theatre Physical have clearly established themselves as a company to watch.”
New Zealand Herald ’09

Premiere and touring…

OH BABY! premiered at Taranaki Festival ’09 and in Auckland at the Concert Chamber, August 20th to 30th, in association with STAMP at THE EDGE® and funded by Creative New Zealand and Arts Alive. OH BABY! has since toured to the Bay of Islands Festival ’10, Fuel Festival ’10 and the Nelson Festival ’10. OH BABY! also presented at Tapac Theatre Motions Rd, Pt.Chevalier as part of the Auckland Fringe Festival.

DVD

A DVD of the show is available – please contact us.

Credits

Cast
Jeremy Birchall
Mike Edward
Eve Gordon
Beth Kayes
Paul MacDiarmid
Debbie Newby

Director
Margaret-Mary Hollins

Designers
Joey Ruigrok Van Der Werven and Simon Coleman

Design realisation and construction
Simon Coleman

Lighting Designer
Vanda Karolczak

Sound and Visuals Designer
Theo Gibson

Costume Designer
Elizabeth Whiting and Eve Gordon

Costume Maker
Yvonne van Baardwijk

Conceived and produced by
Beth Kayes

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OH BABY! Promo Video

Reviews

Nelson Mail (Stuff.co.nz): The brilliant art of making babies. Theatre Royal, October 15. Reviewed by Matt Bowler.

A circus-style show set in a fertility clinic – sounds hilarious, and it is.

A madcap high-energy, very skilful and totally joyous night of theatre. Think a burlesque gymnastic version of Shortland Street, with a big-hearted sense of humour and fun.

I suppose the big concern, the big danger would be to lapse into cliche, to go for the cheap laugh, but this show is far too inventive, far too wildly clever for that…

(Full review now gone from Stuff unfortunately)

—

Town Hall Concert Chamber, August 2009:

The creation of new life provides a fitting inspiration for a piece of theatre that is breathtakingly spectacular, raucously funny and delicately intimate.

A fertile imagination and a lengthy gestation period have allowed Co. Theatre Physical to move beyond the formulaic gestures of physical theatre and deliver a show in which a spirit of playful exuberance conceals the meticulous and exacting choreography that has the actors flinging themselves in all sorts of wildly improbable assemblages.

Set within a high-tech fertility clinic, the drama alternates between a slapstick send-up of medical soap operas and a succession of powerful images that delve into the metaphysics of conception, fertility and birth.

The abrupt changes in tone frequently jolt the audience into those thought-provoking moments when laughter is intermingled with more reflective emotions.

A talented design team has reconfigured the awkward performance space of the Concert Chamber to create an intimate traverse staging that reveals the complex apparatus behind the show’s pyrotechnics.

The highly trained cast show the kind of athleticism expected from circus performers, with Eve Gordon twisting and contorting herself around silk ropes in a daring and dangerous display of aerial acrobatics.

Mike Edward brings an impressive muscularity to his role as the support structure for the free floating women and also manages to deliver a nicely ironic take on the virile machismo of the leading man.

Debbie Newby throws herself into the gymnastic tumbling while giving a hilarious performance as the over-achieving head of the fertility clinic who drives herself to the edge of psychosis as she tries to fit the delivery of her own baby into a micro-managed schedule of professional commitments.

The show’s more tender moments are in Beth Kayes’ performance as a middle-aged woman pitted against her biological clock in a desperate battle to conceive. She hauntingly captures the pathos of infertility as she inflates a succession of balloons which fly briefly before collapsing.

Co. Theatre Physical have clearly established themselves as a company to watch. In Ooh Baby Baby they have wrested physical theatre away from its associations with avant-garde obscurantism and triumphantly asserted their links to the vital traditions of the circus.

– NZ Herald, 24 August 2009, by Paul Simei-Barton

Taranaki Festival ’09:

Absolute chaos is breaking out in the TSB Showplace’s Theatre Royal in New Plymouth and the audience love it. From the moment you enter the venue, you are taken on a wild, crazy ride. Ooh Baby Baby! is one insane show which leaves you gasping.

White coated doctors, stethoscopes, surgical gloves, trolleys, test tubes, X-rays and all sorts of medical paraphernalia hurtle round the stage at various times. But the cast also leap, tube, gyrate, climb, cartwheel, tango and contort into amazing intertwined positions and it’s all in the aid of sperm count, artificial insemination and childbirth.

At times it’s like a circus, at times it’s a raunchy, provocative, cabaret-like act, at times a hilarious comedy and at others a harshly realistic and moving drama. For those familiar with child birth and/or fertility clinics there is instant recognition of familiar situations. The DIY epidural met with much laughter from the audience. There’s creativity aplenty to amaze you, especially in the way of bubble-like wombs that swing from the ceiling. Even the stage has been changed so the audience can sit on both sides.

The cast impress you with their suppleness, their strength and their full-on, almost maniacal acting.
When you are still in recovery mode, they throw in another surprise by whipping out a guitar and showing just a dash more talent by singing as well. This is all accompanied by some strong lighting and sound effects like the repetitive cry of a baby.

There’s certainly a dollop of Monty Python humour mixed into this production. It’s fast paced, in your face, physically explicit but also very funny. Most of all, it’s truly memorable. There will be times when you feel you are in a state of shock, but relax, take a breath and know there’s a doctor in the house. Ooh Baby Baby! plays again tonight.

– Taranaki Daily News, Reviewed by Jo Hills

Contact us regarding any show bookings or questions