Abortion, birth control and the enjoyment of sex

Millicent Ogutu in a scene in from the play. Photo/MARGARETTA WA GACHERU

What you need to know:

  • A one-woman play about Marie Carmichael Stopes portrays her character as being vulnerable and a victim of the very issues to whose appraisal she devoted her life.
  • “Why does Mrs Jones have 13 children, three of them dead and two defective?” asks Stopes in Devaney’s play, which opened at the Braeburn Theatre in Nairobi on November 8 for a run of four shows.

To Marie With Love, a one-woman play by Pauline Devaney, is about Marie Carmichael Stopes (1880-1958) who, together with her second husband Humphrey Verdon Roe, founded what is now Marie Stopes International, one of the largest family planning organisations in the world.

Stopes was firmly opposed to abortion but advocated birth control and the enjoyment of the conjugal union, issues that were controversial in her time.

“Why does Mrs Jones have 13 children, three of them dead and two defective?” asks Stopes in Devaney’s play, which opened at the Braeburn Theatre in Nairobi on November 8 for a run of four shows.

“It is not for Mrs Jones to take the initiative but for the leisured and the wise to tell her the meaning of what she is doing… For… Mrs Jones is destroying the race.”

Not surprisingly, she ruffled many feathers, especially those of the Roman Catholic Church.

But much as the question of birth control is controversial even today, it is worth noting that Stopes was born in the Victorian era (Queen Victoria reigned from 1837-1901) in which society lived under stringent moral codes akin to those of the Puritans, a few centuries earlier.

So strict were these rules that it was considered impolite to even say such mundane words as “leg” or “trousers.” Instead, one said “limb” or “the southern necessities,” respectively.

And as is often the case, such exigencies give rise to a great deal of hypocrisy, which is why this was an era notorious for gruesome child labour, prostitution and other social ills.

DOES NOT IDOLISE STOPES

It is against this background that Stopes lived and worked but Devaney’s play doesn’t idolise Stopes.

She contrasts Stopes’ intelligence with her eccentricities and her philanthropy with her vanity.

She portrays a vulnerable Stopes who seems to be a victim of the very issues to whose appraisal she devoted her life.

Devaney uses a nifty technique by stating that the play is not a play. In this production directed by June Gachui, Stopes (Millicent Ogutu) enters the stage while the house lights are on and stage lights off.

She then asks the audience to leave as the play has been banned. Then, as an after thought, she says that the ban doesn’t stop her from telling us what the play is about.

EVENTS IN STOPE'S LIFE

The play is, therefore, structured by intermittent narration and reading out of correspondence between Stopes and her family and fans.

From this, the events in Stopes’ life are gleaned, some of which justify the importance of sex education while others seem to, perhaps unwittingly, vindicate the church’s view that we cannot entirely control the bringing forth of life.

Three years into her first marriage, she wonders why she hasn’t conceived yet. So, being always a brilliant scholar, she goes to the library and reads extensively on human sexuality. And finally, she stumbles upon the information that puts the puzzle together! She reads aloud: “In order for sexual intercourse to result in pregnancy…(dramatic pause).”

It is at this point that she realises that whatever she has been doing with her husband cannot lead to conception.

She is technically still a “virgin” (and here I make a concerted effort not to speculate about what it is then that they were doing).

“Knowledge gained at such cost must be put at the service of humanity,” she argues.

Again, being the avid scholar, she goes back to the library and reads the law extensively to figure out how to get an annulment of her marriage and succeeds, although it costs her a lot.

Her second marriage does not seem to be any more successful. From her correspondence, it emerges that her second husband is impotent.

She none-the-less manages to conceive, somehow, although her first pregnancy results in a still birth.

The second time she has a son and then she tries to adopt a child but seems too fussy about how she expects the adopted child to behave. She, therefore, tries several children and keeps sending them back.

Millicent Ogutu is a remarkable actress and June Gachui a notable director. In this production, they swap roles — Ogutu takes to the stage and Gachui directs her.

It is too soon to comment on the success of the respective changes in the direction of their careers.

However, for this production, given the complex layers of Marie Stopes’ character and considering the versatility Gachui has shown in the roles she has played (most recently in Steel Magnolias) and the ingenuity Ogutu has shown in directing, especially in directing women (House of Bernarda Alba comes to mind), I couldn’t help wishing that it was Gachui on stage and Ogutu directing her.

This article first appeared in the East African