Fertility Objects (Bath)

Alison Farina’s new play does a rare thing: takes on a Big Issue – the battle to conceive – without (a) boring the pants off you, or (b) slipping into yawnful predictability. Instead, she’s created very human characters whose journeys pull you entanglingly along on a bed of witty, warm and accomplished writing.

Fertilityis the lens through which Farina examines how wider social and family dynamics impact on mature relationships. With the show coming in at a rapid 65 minutes, there’s promising scope for some deeper exploration in any future development.

Hannah Drake’s direction is expertly crisp and confident, delivering clarity and pace, where the relatively large cast (with several doublings-up) and emotive subject matter could have meant clutter or confusion in less able hands.

Natalie Remington’s set is easily up there with the best of them, reflecting and complementing Drake’s freshness of tone, and supported by flawless light and sound from Luke John Emmett and Rebecca Megson .

Fertility Objects is very much an ensemble piece, with no single lead. Rightly – thankfully with such subject matter – the men play as important and perhaps even more deeply explored roles as the women. Oliver Millingham, Justin Palmer and Shane Morgan give us a spectrum of male experience, including bouncing little brother donor, knackered sperm-machine husband, gay male nurse father and prospective dads.

The trio of friends, Jenny Johns, Anna Westlake and Fleur Ward, anchor the group, with sympathetic performances all round. Always a danger with trios, however, there’s a slight risk of “Charlie’s Angel” syndrome, where each character represents one facet of the bigger picture. Special mention must go to Fleur Ward whose sensitive, rounded and pitch-perfect depiction of a manipulated wife who can do nothing right: a great character, beautifully shown.