Birthday nonchalantly throws the audience into the thick of the play where a couple is waiting in a hospital ward to have a baby. An ordinary (if exciting) enough scenario, one might think: but in this case, it is the man who is pregnant. What ensues is a humorous look at gender role reversal but also a poignant view of the relationship between a married couple who have been deeply affected by pregnancy, both as individuals and as a couple.

Gabriel Cagan plays Ed, the pregnant husband in a manner which captures the role of the emotional pregnant ‘woman’. The emotions, fears, hormones, and complaints that he is not hormonal, are played with spooky accuracy. However, Cagan does not descend into a full-blown camp performance and certainly does not become a caricature of the ‘crazy, emotional woman’. His performance, and indeed the character in the play, could have been offensive but instead remains neutral, blending elements of femininity and masculinity. One moment he is upset that his wife calls him neurotic because “it’s sexist”, the next moment he complains that his wife has no idea what he is going through, that it is more painful for men.

The medical characters in the play are both frighteningly incompetent and physically and emotionally tough on Ed and Lisa. The ins and outs of labour are shown with physicality; the audience is not spared the gory details, not to mention the pain and discomfort of Ed. The nurse is a no-nonsense Northerner who systematically forgets details about Ed’s labour, which is both worrying and darkly humorous. In contrast, the registrar is played with a sunny, and even saccharine, disposition. However her over-enthusiasm contrasts hilariously with the fears and frustration of the couple. Despite the humour, the play touches on some deep-seated anxieties about pregnancy and hospitals, particularly those relating to NHS institutions, such as hospital infections and a lack of doctors.

The play also touches on emotional and difficult subjects such as the effect of pregnancy on the couple and their relationship, particularly the idea that they must try to return to the young couple they once were. The idea of post-natal depression affecting both members of the couple, regardless of who was pregnant, is a poignant moment in the play highlighting serious gender disparities.

The only drawback of the play is the ending, which seems overly simplistic and clichéd, given the subtle and clever grappling with gender stereotypes throughout the rest of the play. There are subtle and subversive performances throughout, but unfortunately this makes the ending all the more disappointing.