Spent Hen

Spent Hen, written by Connie Kerr, runs at 53two from Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 October, with all performances starting at 7.30pm. It's a darkly comic, deeply personal look at childlessness, infertility and the social stigma and expectations placed on women.

The play follows a woman who always assumed she would become a mother, until it simply doesn't happen. Having ended her marriage the year she turned 40, she leaves London for the northern town where she grew up and takes work as a features editor at a local newspaper. There, she's tasked with interviewing women who seem to balance successful careers with motherhood.

It's semi-autobiographical, growing out of Kerr's own experience of four miscarriages between 2012 and 2014. The story moves from isolation towards a tentative optimism as the protagonist speaks openly about miscarriage, infertility and childlessness, while confronting the pressure to conform to a rigid conception of a fulfilled life. Kerr says she's bolder now and, when asked, tells people 'I wasn't able to have children'.

The show won the OffCut 2025 Judges' Award for Writing. You can catch it at 53two, Arch 19 Watson St, Manchester M3 4LP, on Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 October, 7.30pm, for £8 or pay-what-you-can.