Every Second

It can be easy to fall into the downward spiral of comparing oneself to others. So and so have this. So and so have that. As millennials take the plunge and decide parenthood is for them, sometimes, biologically speaking, things don’t go to plan. Infertility is an increasingly common challenge, affecting one in six couples in Australia. In Every Second, director Emma Drysdale illustrates infertility into a darkly irreverent, highly entertaining show. 

Meg and Tim, and Jen and Bill are two couples battling childlessness. Between the four of them, they go to asinine and desperate lengths to conceive a child. They are known to use egg yolk as a form of lubricant, pay homage to a golden statue, a goddess of pregnancy, fertility and childbearing.

While Jen (Lansy Feng) and Bill (Richard Mealey) present a united front in their quest to sire children, we soon discover that the bond between Meg (Madeleine Magee Carr) and Tim (Riley Nottingham) is tenuous. Meg has turned lovemaking into a formulaic, soulless experience; Tim no longer feels in the mood to be a mere “sperm donor”, and desires intimacy, a connection. Their dissonance reared its ugly head at Tim’s sperm sample test when Meg burst into the exam room with some helpful material, and he also learned most of their friends and family knew about it. Unable to grapple with his feelings of inadequacy, Tim turns to an available colleague for sex, triggering Meg to go out, get wasted and find a potential sperm donor. When it becomes clear that they may never be able to have a child, will Tim and Meg be able to heal their wounds and create a re-imagined future?

Some of Every Second’s golden moments include the swimming sperm to fertilisation rendition, Meg’s attempts to inject some romance in the bedroom (and park), and the hilarious turn of events when Jen had to manage a drunken Meg at a club while scheduling her hormone shot. Where the show could’ve been sharper, was diving into character’s motivation for wanting a child, rather than simply wanting one because others in the same stage of life had them.

As part of Wit Incorporated’s 2021 season, Every Second unpacks the incredibly difficult and exhausting rollercoaster of infertility. Lansy Feng eloquently captures the sentiment in the scene where Jen laments that she is successful in all aspects of her life but can’t make her body work the way she wants it. 

‘I’m really pleased to be telling this story, showcasing female voices and presenting something so many people struggle with – becoming a parent. It’s a heartfelt story told in a hilarious way, which we think many people will relate to’, says Feng.

Every Second will take you on a journey of heartbreak and comedy, including several legitimate laugh-out-loud scenes, which are a testament to the acting chops of Carr, Feng, Mealey and Nottingham.

Wit Incorporated hopes to reschedule their final performances of Every Second post-lockdown, head to witinc.com.au for updates and details.

Every Second
Bluestone Church Arts Space, 8A Hyde Street, Footscray, 3011
witinc.com.au/shows/every-second

Image: Sare Clarke; Jack Dixon-Gunn