EDINBURGH 2013 - BWW Reviews: MY PREGNANT BROTHER, Pleasance Dome, August 12 2013
Thomas Beattie made news around the world when he went on Oprah in 2008 to discuss being a pregnant man. But despite the entire furore that surrounded this, he was by no means unique. Johanna Nutter's one-woman show, MY PREGNANT BROTHER, making its UK debut at the Fringe, tells us her family's story from 2006.
Johanna Nutter (her mum was a Dylan fan) is enchanting, with an infectious smile and such a playful demeanour that make the darker moments of her story all the more shocking. Her knack for inhabiting a character is also put to great use, allowing her mother and her brother to accompany her as she tells her story.
Nutter has a wonderful ability to paint pictures both figuratively and literally - the entire set is drawn out in chalk as the audience arrive, and develops along with the story. It's a very effective technique, and combined with her bubbly enthusiasm you really enjoy spending an hour in her company.
She covers a lot of her history in a short time. We hear about her unconventional upbringing with a hippy mother, coming to terms with her brother's gender identity and the difficulty of pronouns. We learn how Nutter always performed the role of fixer, being more of a mother to her younger sibling than a sister - and the show tackles how she finally decided to let go, and the impact that it had.
There are a lot of personal stories at the fringe; MY PREGNANT BROTHER sets a very high bar.
"MY PREGNANT BROTHER" runs at 1450 until August 26th (not 13th) at Pleasance Dome.
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