‘She Breast Feeds in the Boardroom’ (Churchill 1982, p. 80) Working Mothers Onstage

• Main Author: Helen Elisabeth Grime
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open Library of Humanities 2016-12-01
• Series: Studies in the Maternal
• Online Access: https://www.mamsie.bbk.ac.uk/article/id/4259/

Actresses are some of the most visible working women. Throughout their history, many actresses have navigated the demands of both a professional career and motherhood. For some, these two roles have been mutually exclusive whereas others have found ways to become working mothers. As part of an unpredictable profession with antisocial hours, a mother employed in the acting profession knows much about the search for the idyllic notion of work/life balance. However, despite this long history of the working mother/actress in the off-stage arena, the opportunity for the actress to inhabit a similar role in her working life onstage is only too rare. In fact, the absence of the stage archetype of the salaried working mother is startling. This article surveys examples of stage representations of working motherhood, considering historical examples including Nora from A Doll’s House, Mrs Warren and Mother Courage. The main focus is on more recent representations of the working mother and debates around C21st motherhood in such plays as Lucinda Coxon’s Happy Now (2008), Amelia Bullmore’s Mammals (2007) and Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn (2014). The aim is to gain a fuller understanding of shifting attitudes towards, and debates around, the figure of the working mother. A figure who, despite her elusive presence onstage, is increasingly prevalent in the profession who embodies her, the audience who consumes her, and the wider socio-political context.