I Carried This

**Both Sunday matinee performances will be followed by a 30min Q and A with one of the women whose story features in this production.

“When they took him from me, they took away everything I thought I was, as a person. I wasn't allowed to be a mother, I wasn't allowed to love, I wasn't allowed to be who I was. I was cut off at the ankles. This happened to hundreds of women, hundreds! And it needs to be acknowledged. We need our apology; we need our enquiry.”

'I Carried This' is a documentary theatre show, illuminating adoption experiences of New Zealand women in the 1950s-60s, breathing new life into stories held onto for decades. The show will debut at Wellington’s Hannah Playhouse this June and features five distilled, real-life stories from women interviewed by writer Nicola Pauling. Directed by Jacqueline Coats, I Carried This is performed by three actresses as an ensemble—one from each ‘season’ of their life.

An emotionally impactful experience from start to finish, I Carried This follows five strains of one incredible history in Aotearoa. Together, the three-woman ensemble, simply referred to as Young, Middle and Wise, weave together multiple entrancing vignettes; one woman tries to fathom why a tender reunion with her adopted son has released waves of rage she never thought capable of, another is forced to reveal to her husband a secret she was always told he should never know about. With a captivating show design from renowned local designer, Lucas Neal, and breathtaking musical compositions from Matthew Hutton, the technical elements work to complement three utterly compelling performances from the show’s actresses—Hilary Norris (The Coven on Grey Street), Nicola Pauling (She Danced on a Friday), and Mycah Keall (Mokomoko).

The show captures the diverse experiences of adoption from the birth mother’s perspective, during an era where unmarried mothers had little choice but to relinquish their babies. Over this period in New Zealand, more than 100,000 young women were sent away by their families to give birth, only to return back home to act like nothing had happened. Decades later, the lasting impact of these experiences proves to be as diverse as the women themselves.