Summerhall
Aug 8-27 (14.45)

Script:  Stagecraft:  Performance: 

Can you imagine expecting a baby and having a government official grill you about if you are truly ready to have that child? In Mia: Daughters of Fortune we see that this is reality for a person with learning disabilities who wants to be a parent. Performed by four quite excellent learning-disabled actors, this play excels in putting the audience inside the souls of the characters. Through story telling, dance, live music, videography, a science lesson and a game show we see parenthood through new eyes and feel emotions we didn’t know existed.

Mia: is entertaining, while taking a hard look at learning disability parenthood. When a learning disabled person is expecting a child, they are sent through pokes and prods in the health care system, which add stress to an already difficult time in a woman’s life. One scene plays a video of a beautiful mother playing with her smiling baby, and the mother says that because she is learning disabled, she was never really sure that she would get to keep her baby. She had to live with the fear that a social worker would decide she was unfit for motherhood. We should not be adding more difficulties to pregnancy, it is not good for the mothers, not good for the babies, not good for the social workers and I am sure that the intention is not to make pregnancy worse.

I left the show wondering how I can change the situation. I don’t know how to make it better, but the play has done its job of starting a conversation. Mia: Daughters of Fortune is played by talented performers, uses a wonderful mix of media and starts an important conversation.

Reviewer : Michael Beeson