Beneath the Mountain is an ambitious new interdisciplinary theatrical work that confronts the invisible and undervalued labor inherent in motherhood and domestic life.
Developed and produced by Deus Ex Femina, the production integrates spoken word, live music, theatre, and physical performance to explore the quiet violences of emotional labor and the slow erosion of autonomy within domestic settings. Inspired by Aesop’s fable The Mountain in Labour, the work interrogates the disparity between the lofty expectations of caregiving and the isolating, complex realities experienced by women; particularly within heterosexual relationships. It asks: what happens when women are expected to be everything to everyone, and what remains beneath the weight of it all?
The show’s narrative structure is built from a series of non-linear, thematically connected vignettes, culminating in a central arc that follows WIFE and HUSBAND; a newly married couple who, after falling pregnant, experience the gradual collapse of their relationship under the pressure of societal roles. WIFE, while navigating her pregnancy, is increasingly left to carry the household and emotional burden alone as HUSBAND becomes more disengaged, controlling, and emotionally absent.
During this development residency at The Mill, we will test the narrative structure, key moments, and thematic throughline. Audiences can expect an evocative and personal exploration of caregiving’s emotional and physical impact.
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