Local playwrights consider life without children

Tick Box Other – a selection of plays coming to Theatre 530 in Battersea this July – looks at the ups and downs of considering life without children. Written by three local writers, these candid and sometimes comic accounts explore the thoughts, feelings and challenges that can arise. Our productions are a snapshot of a subject that throws up a lot of questions, one that doesn’t always have a definitive answer, but does deserve to be explored out loud.

The three of us (Catriona Clancy, Karen Reed and Nicola Rockhill) have lived in and around Haringey for more than ten years, with Muswell Hill, Crouch End, Hornsey and Turnpike Lane all on our list of previous addresses. 

Really, it’s surprising we all didn’t meet earlier. Especially given we were all once regulars at the local art scene hot-spots like Crouch End Art House and Downstairs at The Kings Head. Catriona began her career as an actor, movement coach and director. She devised plays for the London and Brighton Fringe, before taking the Playwriting Foundations course at The Arcola Theatre. Cat met Karen, a commissioned scriptwriter, comedy improviser and freelance advertising creative, when teaching acting at City Academy. A great friendship started, resulting in many creative chats over dinner and G&Ts at the Maynard Arms.  

One of these chats saw them talking about one particular life choice – not having children. Both in their early 40s, they had found themselves discussing this rich and often unspoken subject. What if you don’t want to be a parent? Or don’t think you do? What if it just hasn’t happened? How does it feel out there when you don’t have children? These questions felt like a great starting point for a night (or two) of plays.

Everything was all ready to go into production when the pandemic struck, taking live performance off the table. However, this extra time meant that I got to join the team! I had written a monologue on the topic of not having children for a Yellow Coat Theatre production which took place online in 2020. By fortuitous happenstance, Catriona was allocated to direct my piece, and later invited me to stage it in real life at Theatre 503, alongside her and Karen’s pieces. And so, Tick Box Other was born…. 

The three plays are: No Issue by Catriona Clancy, Births, Marriages and Social Media by Nicola Rockhill and Is This a Test? by Karen Reed. Tick Box Other is showing on 11th July and 12th July at Theatre 530 in Battersea.

Tickets cost £19. To book, visit: theatre503.com/whats-on