Tonight, Nullipare by Zoé Janssens premieres at Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels.
Nullipare — adjective, feminine noun. Describing a woman who has never given birth. From the Latin nullus — nothing, and parere — to bear.
Nullipare is her: a 42-year-old woman, single, without children. Her eggs, frozen four years ago, wait patiently somewhere in a hospital fridge. Seated forever at the children’s table, Nullipare hesitates. Becoming a mother was a way to build a family of her own, to not die alone, to leave a trace. But does that desire for motherhood truly belong to her?
In a city sinking into the water, Nullipare navigates between her dreams of children, her shifting desires, what others expect of her, and her own reason. Armed with an old recorder, this tender and irreverent figure digs through her own archives and decides to create new ones.
But what exactly is Nullipare making? A way out, a seizure of power, the closing of a chapter, an ode to strangeness? Perhaps a little of all of it at once.
Zoé Janssens conceived, performs and directs this poetic and documentary solo. She explores how the intimate can become shared artistic material and how theatre can invite us to ask questions that deserve to be heard.
Sara Vanderieck collaborated on this process as dramaturg.
Nullipare runs from 17 to 28 March at Théâtre de la Vie in Brussels.
