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The Camden Fringe Interviews
Bethan Screen tells us about Procreate
Aiming to poke fun at the motherhood penalty, pesky prescriptive gender roles and expectations that pile on the pressure when you bang out a kid, Bethan Screen‘s Procreate is hitting Etctera Theatre as part of Camden Fringe this August. And who doesn’t want to know more about a show filled with crying babies and 90s pop references? We know we do, which is why we grabbed some time with Bethan to ask some vital questions!
Hi Bethan, it’s a pleasure to chat, would you like to introduce yourself to our audience.
Hello. I’m Bethan Screen (it’s my real last name!) and I’m the writer and performer of Procreate. Writer always feels like a bit of a stretch to me as I’m more of a playing-and-improvising-in-a room-type of person, then I write it down afterwards. There’s only a couple of scenes that I actually wrote before I was in the room.
What can audiences expect from the show then?
Loud baby crying sounds, eggs, horrible dolls, 90s pop culture references, flashbacks to your childhood and a Spice Girls inspired song and dance number I’ve shoe-horned in. Seriously, I think everything needs a musical number. I think people can expect something entertaining and silly but also hopefully something that makes you think and is relatable even though it’s very surreal. It’s a show for 90s babies, new parents and anyone who used to be a child.
It all sounds rather… interesting! Where can we find you then?
I’m playing at the Etcetera Theatre. I’m really pleased to be part of their Camden Fringe program as I’d seen other shows there previously that were very good. It’s a great central location and as I was emailing their team to get this organised they were always so lovely and helpful, and replied super quickly with lots of useful tips and info.
What’s the inspiration behind Procreate?
Procreate has very much been created from my personal experience and it feels a little vulnerable to be birthing this show into the world. I’ve been working on it for the last year, and performed it for the first time in December as a work in progress at Theatre Deli. It’s come from me and my partner talking about having a child, which we both want, but also the angst that can go into that decision. You worry about bringing a child into a world that is in a climate emergency, and full of inequality, conflict and suffering.
On a personal level you worry about how starting a family will change your life, can you be ok with the upheaval and restriction to your freedoms that will inevitably come. Especially as a woman, is it possible to have the career you want, be financially ok, will I have time to create and perform, will I be ‘me’ still? Will I even be a ‘good’ mother??
I think we are seeing more TV and film and to an extent theatre about the experiences of parenthood in a way that is truthful, not idealised and complex. However, I felt that the stage before that, the process of talking about it and deciding to have a family or not, or even conversations about fertility aren’t represented so much in art and culture.
So this show is a way of expressing my own freak out about all this. I like making work that is about big, scary existential things and finding ways to laugh at it. My last show was called Turtles Don’t Like Plastic, it is a children’s show about plastic pollution and the destruction of the ocean, and we literally had puppet fish dying on stage! It’s quite macabre and dark but also funny and hopeful. The kids loved it, I promise! We didn’t traumatise them!
What do you want audiences thinking after watching the show?
I hope they feel like they can talk about it and feel seen. I’m in my 30s and even bringing up the show leads to really nice conversations about wanting children, wanting to be childfree and our hopes, fears and pressures of all that. I also hope the conversation is political too. I think that a lot of what makes it so hard for parents is the lack of support from our society and government, We have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world, the pay gap for mothers is huge, caring work is not valued at all and more and more families are in poverty. It takes a village to raise a child and people are struggling to have that village now. In my case, working in theatre and the performing arts, is a very inconsistent life, often not paid well and there’s a huge talent drain of parents as they leave the industry due to it being incompatible with raising a family.
Are there any plans for what comes next after August – for you or the show?
Before Camden I’ll be performing at Ventnor Fringe on the Isle of Wight, and this autumn I’ll be doing more London shows and also taking the show to Bristol. I’m also planning for some of these shows later this year to be ‘bring a baby’ shows, where parents can bring their babies, and it’s a relaxed environment, the same show but quieter, no blackouts, and the audience can wander in and out if needed, babies can make noise and be fed while parents are still enjoying a show for adult.
Will we find you in the bar after your show?
Of course! I want to be showered in praise and validation and have deep chats about broodiness, babies and how we can make the world better for families, and how being childfree is also a great and valid way to live your life. I think we don’t talk about the process of these decisions enough so I hope it makes people feel like they can.
If you had to describe your show as a colour, what would it be, and why?
Millennial Pink – slightly cringe, no longer cool, but fun, girly and powerful.
If budget was not an issue, what’s the one thing you’d love to have in your show?
I’m answering these questions a couple of days after watching Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at Wembley so I want to say flames, pyrotechnics, a confetti cannon, more costume changes and backing dancers. But what I would really love if I had the funding would be to set up a creche during the shows so it’s accessible for parents to come to the theatre, that would be so cool!
It was great to chat with Bethan about Procreate. You can see the show when it plays at Etctera Theatre 29 and 30 July. Further information and tickets can be found here.
Or if you happen to be at Isle of Wight, you can see the show at Ventnor Fringe 25 and 26 July, informatio here.
