The last thing that teachers and schools want is their students falling pregnant, and since the dawn of schooling, many have tried all sorts of methods in an attempt to prevent teenagers becoming parents. So how better to demonstrate what having a baby entails than by giving students one of their own, complete with lights and sounds? Pack your books away, sit up straight and nappies at the ready, we have eight (very!) young new students joining the class.
It’s Year 11! And the latest incarnation of SRE teaching sees nine students tasked with taking care of eight animatronic baby simulators for a week, which tracks their every interaction. As they each adjust to their new lives as ‘parents’, each starts to find their relationships with themselves, their families and their friends altering, as they are forced to face new realities and changing dynamics that being a parent brings. And when things start to take a turn for the worse, will they be able to face their challenges, or will the electronic children be the straw that breaks the teenagers’ backs?
I’m going to preface this review with a simple disclaimer that says that I absolutely loved this show, so you know the vibe of all of my many thoughts below. I knew nothing about the musical besides its premise walking in, and I came out very pleased that I chose this production. There are so many different elements that I need to talk about, but the short version is that Babies is ingenious, hilarious and you should grab your tickets now before you find yourself at the bottom of the class!
So let’s start with the story itself. The general plot of Babies almost ends at the end of the first song. By the time ‘Baby Baby Baby’ ends, we’ve met our cast and they have their baby animatronic dolls. And that’s sort of the crux of the overarching story, because from this point we explore each of the characters individually, and the musical takes the form of nine intersecting, individual stories, rather than one person’s story everyone else is a part of.
There is one storyline, belonging to Leah, that we tend to focus on more than the others. Whilst this is a musical of nine stories, this one feels the most central, despite being the one we see the least of. Leah is dealing with an incredibly tough situation with her mother, who we only ‘hear’ from through Leah’s side of phone calls. Whilst the specific details of this are left up to interpretation, you feel the gravity of the relationship between them regardless, and it’s always a sobering moment when Leah’s phone rings.
The other storylines include a fatherly boyfriend and his influencer girlfriend who find themselves on the rocks, two lads who get a lot closer when they have to share a baby between them, a girl who wants to make friends and the classic brainiac who can’t deal with competition and so pushes herself too far. You get the feeling that every stereotypical school-age archetype is represented, and I found every person I went to school with broadly fitting into one of the characters on stage.
And whilst I heard from someone around me that they felt like there wasn’t a story, I feel like this works for the musical. Of course, there are many different stories as opposed to one overarching one and I think this highlights the range of people and interactions you get in school, and this was a great creative decision from the writers of this show. I really enjoyed getting to visit each of these characters and relationships individually, which gives this show a fantastic written base for all of its exciting technical elements to build upon.
I want to start with the technical element that stood out most to me, that being the lighting design. For a story that’s set in a standardly lit classroom, the way in which different lighting states were used at different points was inspired. From bold, block colour washes, including a beautiful neon pink wash during ‘Someone Else’, to LED strips embedded in the furniture and set pieces, and glowing goggles, lighting was clearly an important aspect in designing this production and it was simply stunning.
There was one moment which, unexpectedly, has stuck with me since seeing it for all the right reasons. Whilst Leah is singing ‘Without Saying Goodbye’, a thin spotlight is shone down onto the stage, causing a shadow to appear behind Leah’s character. No big deal right, that happens all the time. But it’s then joined by 3-4 other spotlights from different angles, which makes five shadows of Leah at all different sides appear on the floor, which was really effective. Looking like a dark flower and a window into the different sides of Leah’s personality at the same time, I’ve never seen spotlights used in such a way before and I want to see more of it. It drew your attention in like and held you onto every word and movement. What a design!
As we’ve touched on it already, lets move to set. I’m very split on the set design, as it is gone in a way which allows it to make use of a lot of the space they have, is really functional and versatile and means that your focus is on the performers, rather than the background. I would have liked a little more done to the largest stair-frame set pieces, as they do give a slightly scaffolding-like feel to them, but they do the job. They were used in such a way that attaching panels on different sides may not be possible with all of the movement they do, but giving these pieces something to make them fit in a little more would be appreciated. Smaller set pieces, including the LED-encrusted tables and locker/cupboard pieces were used incredibly well and the ease at which they are used is a testament to how refined this musical has become in its short existence so far.
Costume-wise, the creative geniuses behind Babies have taken nine students in the same basic uniform and transformed each into a truly unique style, which when working form the same basic pieces is a great achievement. Little details like skirt lengths, hair styles, jackets or accessories worn with the uniforms, and of course how each uniform sits on each performer makes these characters feel like individuals from the second that they enter. This is so difficult to achieve in such a short timeframe but the use of costume to communicate this is done so well across the entire cast.
Finally, the sound design, musical composition, band and musical numbers work like a well-oiled machine together. Every note, every sound effect, every instrument all comes together seamlessly, to the point where you’re shocked that such coordination is happening live in front of you. The sound live is better than professional recordings from some other shows I’ve heard, which given how technically difficult this is to achieve, is a testament to the work of every sound designer in the show. Sometimes you did struggle to hear all of the lines that were sung in songs, but this was largely exclusive to the first number.
So now that I’ve finished talking about how much I loved everything backstage, let’s turn to the cast that made it happen. Every single one of these performers brough something special and unique to the cast, and the show would lose so much of its quality if even one of the characters were not present. They all understand their characters so implicitly and each was simply fantastic in their roles. My standout performers have to begin, however, with Zoë Athena as Leah. Such a complex character as Leah’s needs to be treated with upmost respect and care, especially when dealing with such complex subject matter, and Athena’s portrayal is everything you could ever want. Hilarious one moment, tear-jerking the next, the different layers of Leah’s character shone through so clearly and connected throughout. A perfect portrayal by a phenomenal actress.
Similarly, singing my favourite song from this amazing soundtrack, Jaina Brock-Patel as influencer Becky gives everything you want (but probably shouldn’t!) from the picture-perfect parent. Constantly juggling her boyfriend, her followers and now her electronic babies which she shares with Ben, Brock-Patel’s bright smile and reassuring charm puts her classmates, followers and the audience at ease even when she isn’t. She gives off the ‘popular girl’ vibe but is a lot friendlier than the classic portrayal, and this works really well. If the character Becky was a real influencer, I’d be following her in a heartbeat. A special mention also has to go to the fantastically camp Bradley Riches as Toby who had me in fits of laughter, was a great character and just randomly dropped a splits in there at one point just because he could! Iconic!
You may have noticed that this review is a lot longer than many of the reviews we’ve done before. And that’s because I simply have so much to say about a show that caught me completely off-guard. I am so glad that I spent an evening at The Other Palace for Babies and I encourage you to go and catch it whilst you can! It’s fun and catchy and incredibly funny, you will not be disappointed!
Rating: ★★★★★
Babies is playing at The Other Palace until July 14th
