We sat down with playwright, comedian and actor Anna Morris ahead of Fringe First winning show in 2024, Son of a Bitch coming to Southwark Playhouse from 26th February to 15th March. Tickets here.

 Can you tell us about Son of a Bitch and what inspired you to write it?

It’s about a woman who is caught on camera calling her 4 year old son a c*nt on a plane. It goes viral, and her life unravels. I wanted to write something about maternal ambivalence, after coming across a Facebook page called I Regret Having Children while researching my BBC Radio 4 Show (Kid-Life Crisis). People can post anonymously about really raw and honest stuff regarding the way they feel about their kids. It was quite shocking, because we don’t tend to be fed this narrative – we only see the perfect family on social media. I wanted to explore the shadow side of having kids, and how this would look under the lense of a social media shaming.

The play explores the idea of regretting motherhood—why do you think this is such a taboo subject? 

Because motherhood is fetishised in our society. There is so much pressure on women to conceive, as if it’s our life’s purpose and that we are not complete without becoming Mothers. So that doesn’t leave much space for Mothers to talk openly about how hard it can be, and the spectrum of feelings that come with having a child. Those without children (and I’m one of them) are fed the narrative that we’ll ‘regret it’ if we don’t have them – but there seems to be no dialogue on what it looks like the other way round. We’re asked ‘why don’t you have children’ but perahps we should be asking ‘why did you have them?’ because it’s a huge responsbility and life altering thing to do. 

Social media plays a big role in the story—do you think it’s made life harder for parents?

Yes I think social media has made life hard for everyone, especially parents. People tend to post just the positives – from the announcements of pregnancies, to ‘milestones’ achieved. There’s sometimes a need for perfection in capturing those perfect moments but behind the scenes, things might be hard. This might make people naturally ‘compare and despair’ – think that eveyone else is having a great time, while they might be struggling. I think social media magnifies all aspects of our lives and has made things harder for everyone!

You’ve worked across comedy, theatre, and TV—how does writing for the stage compare to your other work?

It’s a lot more exposing I think, because every single word, sentence or pause can carry so much weight. The aim is not to constantly make people laugh (which it was in my previous comedy shows) but to tell a story, provoke a reaction and open a dialogue about the themes I want to explore. I have found some liberation though in not constantly anlysing every sentence in terms of how funny it is – which I did before. Now I can let the words tell the story, and if anything makes people laugh – it’s a bonus, rather than a necessity. 

·  The show includes creative captioning, BSL, and relaxed performances—how important was accessibility in your production?

I have been completely deaf in my left ear since I was a child, and so my hearing loss has shaped my life. It was really important to me to help make theatre as accesible as possible for the d/Deaf community. I also wanted to allow relaxed performances – so that we reach as many audience members as possible and make them feel comfortable and welcome.

What do you hope audiences take away from Son of a Bitch?

I hope that they think about the rich spectrum of experiences that come with having a child, and that there is no ‘right’ way to feel. To help create some space for people to really think about the way we treat people with and without children. And hopefully make someone laugh a little, and have a great night out!

After Son of a Bitch, what’s next for you?

It’s quite an exhausting show to peform (I think I have written about 20 characters in there!) so I’ll probably have a little break, then continue to work on my TV ideas for it, perhaps write another play (I have an idea already of what this might be!) and I’m still auditioning for other roles so perhaps I’ll be playing a character someone else has written!