The Baby Farmer at Melbourne Fringe - Review

The Baby Farmer at Melbourne Fringe - Review

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Posted 2017-09-28 by Fiona Andersonfollow

Wed 27 Sep 2017 - Sat 30 Sep 2017

The Laudanum Project , the performance group presenting The Baby Farmer at Melbourne Fringe , describe themselves as 'Australia's most bizarre performers'. 'This is going to be weird,' I warned my partner Dave as we approached the venue.

And it was. But certainly not without merit.

The Baby Farmer is a one-act, one actor (and one musician) 80-minute play. It is based on an illustrated book of the same name, written by the performer, Nick Ravenswood, with artwork by Chloe Neath.



Ravenswood and musician Gareth Skinner appear on stage in edgy makeup, a sort of Gothicised Kabuki look. The music and lighting set the ominous tone for the performance.

Ravenswood narrates a story set in the late 1800s in London's East End. The story tells of the life of Winnifred Alcorn. Forced out of her job as a nurse, and with a child, Agatha May, to care for her, she looks for another way to earn an income. Her background in nursing leads to another caring role - as a baby farmer, someone who takes in babies and cares for them.



I was intrigued to know if the practice of baby farming did in fact historically exist - and my research shows that it did, mainly in the UK, but also to a limited extent in the USA and Australia. Women who had illegitimate babies sometimes handed them over to be cared for by another woman (in exchange for ongoing payments), to avoid the social stigma existing at that time.

Baby farming also took the place of adoption and foster care before these were regulated by British law. In these instances, the 'baby farmer' would often be given a lump sum payment to care for the child. The unfortunate consequence of these 'lump sum' adoptions was that it was in the baby farmer's financial interests if their charges didn't live long. There are recorded cases of babies in care being neglected or murdered, and the baby farmers supposedly looking after them being tried, found guilty and sentenced to death.

Without completely wanting to give the story away, this overview sets the framework for The Baby Farmers. Add in an overlay of mental illness, and the hint of a ghostly stranger and the scene is set.

This is as scary, impactful and uncomfortable a work as you could imagine could possibly be created by one performer using only his voice and limited movements, supported by mood varying lighting and music. Think King Lear meets Edgar Allen Poe and you will have some sense of the blackness of this work.

The Baby Farmer won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I couldn't help but be impressed by the obvious talent of Ravenswod, who managed to keep the audience in the palm of his hand and on the edge of their seats for a full 80 minutes. Bravo!



The music of Skinner is equally impressive, as he seamlessly moves between keyboard and strings.

The Baby Farmer contains haze effects, adult themes, and horror, with themes of infanticide. Suitable for adults only.

The Baby Farmer plays at the Meat Market, 3 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne at 9.00pm each night until Saturday 30th September.

Tickets are $35. Click here to buy your tickets online, or call the Fringe hotline on (03) 9660 9600.

All images supplied by The Laudanum Project.

#theatre
#performing_arts
#north_melbourne
#inner_north_melbourne
#theatre -reviews
#september
!date 27/09/2017 -- 30/09/2017
%wnmelbourne
116461 - 2023-06-12 19:15:34

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