Brenda’s Got a Baby review – pregnancy deadline drama doesn’t quite deliver

New Diorama theatre, London
Ama wants a baby before her 30th birthday in this unstructured play from Jessica Hagan that doesn’t know if it is serious or trying to make us laugh

I’m all up for surprises, but it takes at least 40 minutes before the crux of this new play by Jessica Hagan is revealed. After a bad breakup with her partner of eight years, and with rising envy of her little sister’s happy relationship with her new boyfriend, Ama (Anita-Joy Uwajeh) realises she wants to become a mother. She is 29 and Business Insider has told her she’s in the prime of her reproductive years. “I want a baby,” she announces, and she wants it to happen before her 30th birthday. Hagan’s story of comparison culture will be recognisable to anyone who has ever wondered if they are on the right path – but why take so long to get there?

By the end of the first half, a digital clock has started to count down the days and minutes until Ama’s deadline. After the interval, it is as if we’ve arrived at a new, time-pressured play – this is where the evening should have started. Finally, there is tension and shape to a script that previously appeared entirely unstructured.