It was fantastic, both in terms of the storyline you’ve developed and its presentation as the play. I was particularly struck by the strength of the female role. Amy’s graphic description of her IVF experience and the impact it had on her was (for me at least) in some ways the anchor of the play. But, more broadly, I think the way the play unfolded worked really well.
Of course, it helped that the two actors were both very strong. As indeed was the production! Excellent sound and lighting work, and obviously the director has conjured a really tight performance from Hannah Douglas and Paul Kemp. In short, I thought it was a great experience.
I’m full of admiration that you’ve developed this from scratch, and turned what for you has been a negative experience into something truly creative. Would Dave and Amy have considered that something of a legacy?
All the best for the rest of the run, and future productions.
Mark Gorman, author of Saving the People’s Forest
The play works well: clearly conceived and firmly structured, with the dramatic give and take between your two characters sharp and lively throughout. The actors were good, especially Dave – you can see why he might be a favourite of Ayckbourn’s. More than anything, they conveyed the precise degree of hurt and anger felt by each of them in such a way as to draw the audience along with them, on their different trajectories, irresistibly. I expect the conversation among your friends afterwards was both celebratory and a little rueful, as they probably learned more about you and your feelings than they knew they were going to be exposed to. Congratulations!
Christopher Reid, poet, Faber poetry editor and winner of the Costa Book Award for his collection The Scattering
A fascinating and moving exploration of the theme of childlessness, through the experiences of two former lovers who meet again for the first time in many years. The play is full of dramatic twists and turns, as each character grapples with their feelings of loss, regret, betrayal and the possibility of redemption. A truly beautiful play that covers so many angles. Every word is carefully chosen. A concise, touching play that doesn’t forget to add a touch of humour. Two superb actors and exemplary performances. Well done! I highly recommend it. I really enjoyed it.
Patricia Gruel, drama student
It was wonderful seeing your play again. It felt as if the woman’s voice was more vocal this time. Also, Dave didn’t need to drink to let out his emotions! So amazing how you get so much into an hour. I will be reading I Always Wanted To Be A Dad: Men without Children again.
Karen Chambers, English teacher
It was an excellent play, well acted, and quite gripping with an unexpected twist in it.
Cavell Douglas, member of Ageing Without Children
I think your play was fantastic. Well done, to you and your whole team. You must be so pleased. I could see that you had changed a lot from the reading that I attended with more layers, more nuance and more humour (which was a nice counterbalance to the serious issues raised). It had some surprises as well, a much stronger piece altogether. Honestly, great job!
Also, please do pass my congrats to your actors – both really good. Hannah was very compelling and Paul, too. In fact, when I realised that the empty seat next to mine was going to be part of the action and as Paul sat down and broke down in tears, I really had to stop myself from placing a comforting hand on his shoulder! I was really drawn in. David, your director, clearly knows what he’s doing, great work.
I really do think you should – if you want to – push to get a major TV soap or drama to include the theme of unplanned childlessness as a storyline and get them to use you as a writer/consultant. I would also say you do need to bang the drum for male childlessness being acknowledged on a par with female childlessness – a different experience, of course, due to the difference in male and female body clocks, fertility, etc – but also because men’s mental health within this topic is spoken about far less even within the groups involved in this area. In fact, mental health for men and boys is a long way behind the services and charities out there looking after women. There needs to be parity, it will be good for society as a whole. We need to end the kind of ‘war of the sexes’ battle that underpins this topic in general. Bravo!
Lucia Wilson, children’s author and Strabismus campaigner
Huge congratulations on an amazing achievement in bringing Empty to the stage with such moving, powerful and engaging performances. With a simple set and sounds you created an awesome experience: emotional, moving, painful and connecting with us to ‘peel away the layers’ of childlessness. They are all memorable moments with Amy and Dave. A true achievement and a triumph in writing and staging.
Chris North, author of The Well of Silence
The phrase ‘Involuntary Childlessness’ may not be familiar, but it affects 20% of all British women and 25% of British men by the age of 45. The debut play of journalist Robert Nurden, 74, author of I Always Wanted to be a Dad: Men Without Children (2023) tackles this painful subject and gives space and voice to an emotionally wrought, rarely discussed and little understood subject.
In Empty, we find ourselves in Dave’s apartment somewhere in London, which must be worth a few bob because the views are impressive. He brings out a bottle of Sancerre and waits for Amy to arrive, his former partner, now married to Gary. They cagily assess their professional and personal status since separating; Dave’s doing well—he just bought a new BMW; Amy is less content with her life as a football widow. The conversation soon turns to children – or lack of them.
Amy’s desire for children and Dave’s dismissal of the idea are what tore them apart eight years ago. After numerous rounds of unsuccessful and expensive IVF, Amy has one last shot at motherhood. In an unexpected reversal, Dave has, since they separated, had a complete volte-face. It’s not only women who can feel broody and crave babies or a family life. Dave, too, is experiencing an existential crisis as he confronts his own mortality. As time slips away, he fears he will never sire his own child.
Empty brings many creative and dramatic challenges as a piece of staged work. How to show absence or lack of? In this 55-minute piece with no interval, the solution is almost entirely discursive. There is a plot and sequence of action, but it’s a static piece that happens all in one room as one long conversation and lament. That said, the performances in this two-hander do have depth and trace the stages of grief including anger, bargaining, hope and acceptance.
Empty is promoted on the lesser-known male experience of involuntary childlessness, but it’s Hannah Douglas’s performance as Amy that is more vivid and heartfelt. Her outburst about an irrational hatred of nature with its inbuilt ability to perpetuate itself is memorable. Dave, played by Paul Kemp, comes across as less sympathetic—one who has prized money and work over family and relationships and now mourns his inconsequential legacy. On the one hand, he’s pleasant and avuncular; on the other, a narcissist who weaponises his wealth and sees relationships as transactional. “I need to get something out of it.”
Constructionally, it’s a solid piece with well-drawn and nuanced characters, although it does seem to finish about three times with additional directorial layers. The breaking of the fourth wall is jarring, and the voice-overs of thoughtless or judgemental responses from others take the audience out of the story, although they might integrate better if positioned elsewhere. While Empty could be more dramatically realised, this is nonetheless a powerful and cathartic watch for anyone who has directly experienced involuntary childlessness or wants to understand more.
Nilgun Yusuf, The Reviews Hub Star
Amy: Do you know what the hardest thing is to accept about infertility?
David: Tell me.
Amy: Hope
Tonight I had the absolute pleasure of attending Robert Nurden’s play ‘Empty’ at The Drayton Arms in South Kensington.
The heartbreaking conversation between Amy, played by Hannah Douglas and Dave, played by Paul Kemp, as they both come to terms being childless not by choice, for two different reasons.
This play captures every bit of the heartbreak and intensity of IVF, the different paths for why people are childless, and the misconceptions in our society, as well as the pressures around parenthood, almost at any cost, yet no space for empathy for no child coming into the world.
If you ever have a chance to see this play, do. The writing and performance was truly spectacular, and captures everything we need to be discussing more openly about [being] childless not by choice and infertility.
It was such a pleasure to have been able to speak with the writer Robert Nurden, the cast, and director David Furlong after the performance – not something you get to do every day!
And hopefully one day we will see it on Australian soil.
Lisa Ransome, who was shortlisted for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Fertility awards
In 2023, author and journalist Robert Nurden published the book I Always Wanted to Be a Dad: Men without Children, a personal account of “unwanted childlessness”, alongside testimonies from other men. It’s a subject rarely, if ever, explored in theatre, and particularly unusual from a male perspective. Written by Nurden and directed by David Furlong, Empty explores the multilayered grief surrounding wanting a child and not being able to have one.
Hannah Douglas and Paul Kemp are superb as the protagonists in this powerful two-hander, who are brought back into each other’s lives after eight years to reflect on their past relationship. United in their shared longing for a life that is, for different reasons, heartbreakingly denied them, with the painful irony that the very thing that tore the couple apart is what David now wants more than anything else: children.
A substantial portion of the dialogue centres around Amy’s fertility struggles and the harrowing experience of IVF. Surrounded by mothers, the topic of parenthood is inescapable, and Amy speaks about the isolation of a casual social meetup where she fears “no one wants to speak about infertility over an americano”. The play tackles a lack of understanding around the topic, and the creative team later discussed wanting to educate and spark conversations. Mark Fenton’s clever sound design depicts the well-meaning but unhelpful advice from a society that doesn’t know how to appropriately respond, with a haunting chorus of different voices, from “at least you have your freedom” to “you could always get a cat.”
While the female experience is by no means undermined, Nurden gives space for David to share his own pain, loneliness and regret, which the writer believes can be misunderstood and underestimated. Childlessness, whether due to infertility, having not met “the right person”, or a myriad of reasons, is more frequently examined through a female lens, but David’s character reflects on his desperation to become a father in a raw and vulnerable way. Furlong described the production as “the most eye-opening play [he has] ever had to direct”.
The show is just one hour long, with a minimal set of two chairs and a bonsai tree on a coffee table (this later becomes the source of much-needed humour, when Amy tells him that the plant that was supposed to represent David’s budding new relationship is one of the slowest-growing). The performance was followed by a Q&A with the cast and crew, hosted by Helen Louise Jones, founder of Childless Voices, who offered important insight and research into the topic. She highlighted the distinction between being “child-free” and “childless-not-by-choice”, and shared eye-opening statistics (20-25% of men and women over 45 are involuntarily childless).
Through his semi-autobiographical work, Nurden confronts what is considered a taboo subject in a sensitive and deeply personal way. Empty is a devastating but essential piece of theatre which needs to be seen by as many people as possible.
Gala Woolley, The Upcoming
This compelling two-hander by Robert Nurden brings to life the hidden pain of involuntary childlessness.
Two former lovers, David and Amy, meet again after eight years. David’s new flat suggests he is still a staunch child-free bachelor, even in his fifties. Amy is married now, and, whilst pushing 40, presumably on track to finally have children. It seems the two continue to be on opposite sides of the divide that tore them apart. But as the night unfolds, new revelations emerge, and they must grapple with past choices and present longings.
Empty offers an intelligent, sensitive perspective on the fraught emotional landscape of missed parenthood. Inspired by Nurden’s book, I Always Wanted to Be A Dad: Men without Children, the play wants to give voice to the often under-discussed male experience. It achieves this, to a point, though at times this feels more like Amy’s story than David’s — a tension the production never fully resolves, even as it strains to give David equal weight.
Amy, played by Hannah Douglas, is intent on venting her rage and despair. Chasing parenthood has cost her dearly, and her life is unravelling. This is a commanding performance, oozing disappointment, angst and fragility.
Paul Kemp plays David, who is equally powerful in his contained, pared-back sorrow. He in turn shows sympathy, and expresses his newly found longing for parenthood with tenderness. If Amy’s is an outward display of grief and rage at her own body, at the medical profession, at the brutality of IVF, David’s pain is less focused, but no less pervasive. His sorrow is more internalised, and for that just as compelling — he has no external target for his grief, only his own past choices to reckon with.
The stakes ramp up over their increasingly intense exchange. They are two people at the precipice of finality, gambling on parenthood one last time.
The story moves from the personal to the political, with Amy and David now on the same side of the fence, recipients of tone-deaf yet well-meaning advice about childlessness from others.
David Furlong’s direction is skilful and sensitive, creating moments of connection between the two characters, only to dissolve them as each returns to the loop of their individual plight. The result is a haunting sense of isolation.
The set (consultancy by Juliette Demoulin) effortlessly cues well-heeled bachelor aesthetics. This is a home decidedly for one, contrasting with David’s recent longing for a family of his own. It remains unchanged for the whole play, a static reminder of a life that resists change even as David wishes it would. A bonsai tree becomes a powerful prop — it is David’s only nurturing outlet, and Amy’s comment, “Bonsais grow very slowly, David,” is funny and painfully poignant.
The lighting, beautifully designed by John Ryan, lends atmospheric settings as well as effective punctuation to the course of the night. Mark Fenton’s sound design is deliberately sparse, with slightly dissonant music by Satie bookending Amy and David’s encounter, and haunting soundscapes used sparingly.
There is also a powerful use of verbatim voiceovers towards the end, drowning the characters in tone-deaf, if well-meaning, platitudes on childlessness. This is when the two characters begin to address the audience directly. The choice is interesting in opening up the conversation; however, in breaking the fourth wall, part of the spell is broken too.
Empty is a timely counterpoint to the growing narrative of child-free life as empowered choice, and a call for empathy over unsolicited advice.