Birth Plan is C’s experience of birth and parenthood, relayed between increasingly frequent contractions. In her lucid phases, C unfolds the tragi-comic story of how she ended up labouring alone.

As the arrival of her newborn draws ever closer, C voices doubts about her family relationships, her fitness to be a parent and questions why she ever chose this path. She reveals her longing for a deeper bond with her husband, her family, her children – but unwittingly discloses a truth; that being a mum is all too frequently a lonely occupation.

Sharmila Peake is an actor and theatremaker from Essex. Birth Plan is her new one-woman show, debuting at Colchester Fringe 2026.

"Every moment Sharmila is on the stage is worth the admission fee alone!" Tim Young on Kitty, Black Brook Theatre

"Sharmila Peake delivers a wonderful Hamlet, insecure, confident, questioning" Paul T. Davies, Keep Colchester Cool

"Birth Plan is witty, insightful, and charming. Sharmila Peake shines a light on the perils and loneliness of both the labour process and motherhood as a whole. This is a story that needs to be told." Deanna Strasse, author of The Cafe Mocha Murders, Dead Doves and Lemons & Pseudonym