Chapel Off Chapel to Present E-BABY, 4-15 March

e-baby, a powerful new play focusing on one of today's most topical and emotive issues, surrogacy, will open at Chapel Off Chapel from 4-15 March.

e-baby is the story of Catherine, an Australian expat living in London, who is infertile and desperate. To fulfill her dream of becoming a mother, Catherine hires US surrogate Nellie - beginning a journey that creates and changes lives. Told with compassion and humour, e-baby explores the complex, emotional relationship formed between the two women.

The topic of surrogacy is one that has sat with Jane since her days of editing the Accent section of The Age. In 1988, she interviewed Maggie Kirkman whose daughter was carried by her sister, Linda as Australia's first IVF surrogate. Over the years, Jane has interviewed many women about the issues surrounding adoption, infertility and motherhood, however it was a meeting whilst living in Bangkok that proved pivotal.

"From 2004-2007, I lived in Bangkok, where I interviewed an expat woman who had had both her children via a US surrogate. Her obsession with having a child was almost primal. At the same time, her pain and yearning was palpable.

"I was interested in her comments about her relationship with the surrogate and began to wonder what motivated women to become commercial surrogates," said Jane, who spent two years researching online surrogacy forums and listening to the surrogates' vlogs on YouTube.

And so e-baby was born - the story of Catherine, the Intended Parent and Nellie, a mother of two living in the surrogacy-friendly state of Massachusetts, who is motivated by the desire to help others and to put her boys through college.

"So much is written about celebrity surrogacy, but little is said about the incredibly intimate relationship between an intended parent and her surrogate. I wanted to explore that," said playwright and former Age journalist and section editor Jane Cafarella.

This is a story that is highly relevant in Australia, where one-in-six couples are infertile and more and more are seeking overseas surrogates. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia and it is illegal for Australians living in NSW, ACT and QLD to seek commercial surrogates overseas. e-baby is set in the virtual world, England and America, one of the few places where commercial surrogacy is legal, although not in all states.

Directed by Anna McCrossin-Owen, who has directed for Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Full Tilt at the Arts Centre, Essential Theatre Shakespeare in the Vines Aust/NZ tours and Victoria State Opera, the two hander stars Carolyn Masson as Catherine, (Sylvia Plath - the Girl Who Wanted to Be God, Neighbours, Bed of Roses) and Sarah Ranken as Nellie, (Uncle Vanya, Leongatha, Plague).

e-baby shines a light on a world where new life can start with an online ad.