Womb Opener: Play puts the hidden burden of firstborn daughters on stage [Courtesy]
Eldest daughters who have grown up carrying responsibilities beyond their years will see themselves in Womb Opener, a play that is deeply personal and widely recognisable.
It is a one-woman biographical play based on the life of performer Njeri Wangari, who also performs the story on stage. Written by Helga Muinde, produced by Wangari Gitau and directed by Jante Juma, the play was staged at the Braeburn Theatre on Gitanga Road on September 5.
It explores the experiences of firstborn and parentified daughters through Njeri’s story, using an imagined game show to examine family expectations, motherhood, childhood and the burdens she carried as the eldest daughter.
Nje (Njeri Wangari) is a firstborn daughter who has spent much of her life caring for her family and carrying responsibilities that were never meant to be hers. Through an imagined game show, she revisits her childhood, her relationship with her mother and the expectations placed upon her as the eldest daughter.
