Review: WHOSE CHILD AM I ANYWAY? at Corrib Theatre

"It's the relationship between one and the other that makes the other the other." This is the idea at the heart of Bisi Adigun's WHOSE CHILD AM I ANYWAY?, a new audio play now available from Corrib Theatre. This short family drama explores many ways of othering -- societal, interpersonal, and even feeling other from oneself.

WHOSE CHILD AM I ANYWAY? centers on Biyi (played brilliantly by Don Kenneth Mason), a Black Nigerian man, and his wife Cathy (Danielle Weathers), a white Irish woman, who are anticipating the arrival of their daughter, Roisin (Celia Torres), who is about to go off to college in Canada. A letter from a lawyer arrives, revealing that Roisin is not Cathy's biological daughter at all -- that Cathy, who couldn't conceive a child, had made an arrangement with an egg donor, a fact that Cathy has hidden from Biyi and Roisin for the past 18 years. Now, Julie Ann, the egg donor who has been in their lives as Roisin's godmother, is suing for her right to have a say in where Roisin goes to college.

When Biyi learns Cathy's secret, he feels understandably betrayed. It doesn't help when she mentions that part of the reason she didn't tell him was because she believes that having children is so important to Nigerian men that he would have left her for not being able to conceive. It's not the only reason -- Biyi also believes that when a woman uses an egg donor, the donor is the "true mother." Cathy feels that she did what she had to do to keep her husband and have the child that they both wanted. From Biyi's perspective, Cathy left him out of one of the most important decisions of their life together because she made assumptions based on his race and ethnicity.

This interpersonal conflict is layered on top of a larger societal context of inequality and the othering of people of color (see Corrib's website for resources on racism in Ireland). Biyi, who has been in Ireland for decades and has multiple advanced degrees, hasn't been able to find a position in academia. Roisin, who was born in Ireland, is constantly being asked where she's from. They are all others in society's eyes in some way, and over the course of the play, they become others to each other.

Corrib's production, directed by Bobby Bermea, is headed by Don Kenneth Mason in the role of Biyi, who is a challenging character to say the least. Mason's performance hits the emotional notes necessary to convey his incorrigible but also sympathetic nature.

Overall, WHOSE CHILD AM I ANYWAY? raises way too many questions to be adequately addressed in a 30-minute play. Is it about lies and betrayal? Parenting and legal maternity? The unkept promises of Irish multiculturalism? In trying to be about all of these things, the play struggles to find its North Star. What it does demonstrate is the impossibility of teasing apart the various factors -- personal, cultural, societal -- that affect us all, all of the time.

WHOSE CHILD AM I ANYWAY? is available to listen to through July 18. More details and tickets here: https://corribtheatre.org/whose-child-am-i-anyway/

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