Ground-breaking drama aims to create dialogue about experience of childbirth

Daughters of the Revolution, a drama exploring women’s experience of Ireland’s maternity services will be staged at Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre next Friday and Saturday, February 23 and 24, at 8pm nightly.

The three-hander was created by writer and theatre-maker Kate Harris in collaboration with women who had recently experienced this country’s maternity services.

Presented by Dublin company, 4 Elements, Daughters of the Revolution follows Evelyn Murphy, whose story paints a picture of contemporary Ireland in a time of rising birth-rates, in an uncertain economy, and with a health service in crisis.

“It’s a satire that uses music and dance, it’s fast-paced, engaging and passionate – a theatrical production,” says its creator.

The show arose from Kate’s own experiences with Ireland’s maternity services.

“There was a disconnect between what I was experiencing [as a pregnant woman] and what was happening around me,” she says of the system. Kate discovered “a medical system that was looking for things that might be wrong and treating them,” rather than treating the pregnant woman as a complete person.

“You were seen as something that had to be ‘fixed’, without people taking a step back and looking at the whole person to find out what that person knows.”

American-born Kate has lived in Ireland since 1996, when she was 19. She’s based in Dublin, and that’s where she got married and had her children. A background in theatre means she’s a keen observer of life.

And, while in the care of maternity professionals, “I noticed they were not talking to me and not talking to each other”.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.