Empty at The Drayton Arms

In 2023, author and journalist Robert Nurden published the book I Always Wanted to Be a Dad: Men without Children, a personal account of “unwanted childlessness”, alongside testimonies from other men. It’s a subject rarely, if ever, explored in theatre, and particularly unusual from a male perspective. Written by Nurden and directed by David Furlong, Empty explores the multilayered grief surrounding wanting a child and not being able to have one.

Hannah Douglas and Paul Kemp are superb as the protagonists in this powerful two-hander, who are brought back into each other’s lives after eight years to reflect on their past relationship. United in their shared longing for a life that is, for different reasons, heartbreakingly denied them, with the painful irony that the very thing that tore the couple apart is what David now wants more than anything else: children.

A substantial portion of the dialogue centres around Amy’s fertility struggles and the harrowing experience of IVF. Surrounded by mothers, the topic of parenthood is inescapable, and Amy speaks about the isolation of a casual social meetup where she fears “no one wants to speak about infertility over an americano”. The play tackles a lack of understanding around the topic, and the creative team later discussed wanting to educate and spark conversations. Mark Fenton’s clever sound design depicts the well-meaning but unhelpful advice from a society that doesn’t know how to appropriately respond, with a haunting chorus of different voices, from “at least you have your freedom” to “you could always get a cat.”

While the female experience is by no means undermined, Nurden gives space for David to share his own pain, loneliness and regret, which the writer believes can be misunderstood and underestimated. Childlessness, whether due to infertility, having not met “the right person”, or a myriad of reasons, is more frequently examined through a female lens, but David’s character reflects on his desperation to become a father in a raw and vulnerable way. Furlong described the production as “the most eye-opening play [he has] ever had to direct”.

The show is just one hour long, with a minimal set of two chairs and a bonsai tree on a coffee table (this later becomes the source of much-needed humour, when Amy tells him that the plant that was supposed to represent David’s budding new relationship is one of the slowest-growing). The performance was followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, hosted by Helen Louise Jones, founder of Childless Voices, who offered important insight and research into the topic. She highlighted the distinction between being “child-free” and “childless-not-by-choice”, and shared eye-opening statistics (20-25% of men and women over 45 are involuntarily childless).

Through his semi-autobiographical work, Nurden confronts what is considered a taboo subject in a sensitive and deeply personal way. Empty is a devastating but essential piece of theatre which needs to be seen by as many people as possible.

Gala Woolley
Photos: Lucy Hayes

Empty is at The Drayton Arms from 7^th until 11^th July 2023. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.