Sarah Meadows is an award-winning theatre director, whose work includes the English language premiere of hit Korean musical Marie Curie (Charing Cross Theatre) and the US premiere of Ride (San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre). Up next she will be heading to Southwark Playhouse Borough, directing an original production "The Soon Life", where she worked collaboratively with writer and performer Phoebe McIntosh and production company Rua Arts.

What can you tell me about the show?

This is a funny, poignant, beautiful and visceral play. I think people are and have been for a while really thinking about what it means to bring a child into the world and for many they reach the conclusion that it isn’t right for them, at that time or if at all. This general awareness of course links to the politics of contraception and abortion, which the play explores in a really smart way. Alex and Bec are typical in many ways and go through experiences that many couples face, so should allow the audience to see themselves and reflect back. Alex being a white man and Bec being a black woman also brings unique identity politics to the relationship dynamic and informs Bec's choices as a mother to be. The setting of this in the pandemic also creates a unique spin on modern relationships, the pressure and emotional fall out of that time on romantic love and close relationships was (is) palpable.

What drew you to this piece?

Phoebe McIntosh wanted to create a fictionalised space where the birthing person was empowered to make their own choices about their body and their birth story, in response to real life experiences that did not play out that way. I really related to that impulse. I am a mother of two and before I had my children, I had no idea the profound impact your birth experience can have on everything that comes after. The idea of a fictionalised world where a person was able to take control of this felt like furtive ground to ask questions and perhaps share some truths. I want to create space for others to reflect, who have or may in the future go through this journey (weirdly there’s loads of us - we were all born - who knew). I’m always interested in work that’s doing something for the first time (or a version of) and I don’t believe there’s been a play that tackles birth in the way that The Soon Life does; following a person in labour from start to finish (ish). I wonder why birth is still such a taboo subject…Examining this process, allowing room for all that it brings up and bearing witness to the metamorphosis; from one to two, two to three, person to parent, to watch the heart expand beyond imagining. All this wrapped cleverly in a funny and light touch piece of writing.

What was the first piece of theatre you remember seeing that had a big impact on you?

I was brought up in rural Cumbria so I wasn’t exposed to much theatre at a young age. I do have vivid memories of an early school trip to The Royal Exchange in Manchester to watch Waiting for Godot (of all things) and I remember my brain lighting up with the possibilities of the non literal and all philosophical debates the piece held - that and a later school trip to London to see The Lion King (which I took my daughter to see a couple of weeks ago) where the pure magic of the musical gave me the bug.

What gives you inspiration?

I think I am always first inspired by an idea or p/Political gesture when I am discovering new work. Music is really important to my process and building a world and I work quite visually and love the design process. I often find myself storyboarding and working through the model box like a child with figures, setting up images and scenes and focusing on what and how they connect and flow. I trained with Robert Lepage and have always been deeply inspired by his working process and the RSVP cycles, with the aim of making something where all the parts that make it are parts of one thing and all work together to tell the story. The production being its own unique entity, trying to disrupt the typical linear process that British Theatre tends to work in. On a wider lens my children are now of course my main sources of inspiration.

What would you hope someone takes away from seeing the show?

I hope for those who connect to the lived experiences on stage that they can have a space to reflect and celebrate and potentially grieve their own story. For those without, I would hope they are swept up in the wave of the show and feel physically moved and shaken by the experience. I always remember being told to give each show a higher purpose. In that, I would hope that all who see it will be able to take ownership of their physical and health experiences; be able to create the most empowered version of this journey where they are driving the narrative, using their voice and in that minimising/ending the physical and emotional trauma experienced by so many people giving birth or those on extreme health journeys.

Where can people see the show?

At the Southwark Playhouse Borough from the 1st to the 18th of October. https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/the-soon-life/