Motherhood, identity, and rage collide in Jane Upton’s sharp new play, (the) Woman, now at Park Theatre. Starring Lizzy Watts (Hedda Gabler at the National Theatre). It follows M, a playwright hijacked by early motherhood, as she tries to reconcile her creative drive with the chaos and invisibility of raising young children.

The Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play moves between M’s present reality — burnt out, lonely, and craving intimacy — and the fictional world of the play she’s writing for her male producers. As she begins to question her place in the system and her own creative worth, the boundaries between her art and her life blur into something raw and painfully real.

(the) Woman is drawn directly from Upton’s own experience of early motherhood and creative suffocation. “When I started writing (the) Woman I was in a really raw state of mind,” she says.

“The catalyst was an ex from school saying he expected more of me than having kids in our hometown. I wrote the play from such a state of honesty, rage and suffocation… So many people have written to tell me how strongly they related – women and men.”

Equal parts confession and confrontation, (the) Woman speaks to the quiet fury and resilience that sit beneath early motherhood.

Directed by Angharad Jones and following a successful tour, it arrives at Park Theatre for a month-long London run — including a special parents-and-babies performance on 21 October 2025.

Honest, funny and deeply human, it’s a must see for anyone who’s ever felt the tension between who they were and who motherhood made them.

(the) Woman runs at Park Theatre until 25 October 2025. Book tickets here parktheatre.co.uk

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