The choice to have children is one of contemporary society’s most contentious conundrums, and in Red Stitch’s latest show What’s Yours the public debate gets explored with depth, nuance, and humour. Written by Keziah Warner and directed by Isabella Vadiveloo, the production stars Helpmann-award-winning actor Christina O’Neill as Jo, Noongar actor Carissa Lee as Lia, and Kevin Hofbauer as Simon, whose complicated past becomes even more entangled in the present.

Simon is Jo’s ex and has been in a relationship with Jo’s former friend Lia for a decade. Lia and Simon have been going through the tenuous journey of IVF without success and, in a bold move, approach Jo after a period of estrangement to ask her if she will donate her eggs to them. What follows is a series of events that digs up tensions and secrets from the past, while engaging in a lively debate around societal pressures to have children and the judgement that ensues when you make the active choice not to.

Playwright and dramaturg Keziah Warner is fast becoming one of Melbourne’s most exciting theatre voices. Her recent works have focused on otherworldly contexts: Malthouse productions Nosferatu (2023) and Hour of the Wolf (2023) took on the supernatural world, and Red Stitch production Control (2019) explored the possibilities of interplanetary existence and artificial intelligence. Warner’s latest script for What’s Yours, which was commissioned through Red Stitch’s INK development program, is instead grounded in everyday life, which suits the modest feel of the theatre.

The set is designed like an intimate living space, equipped with a kitchen table, long bench, chair, and side table. As characters position themselves around the space, the set easily transforms from Jo’s apartment to Jo and Lia’s university share house to Lia and Simon’s home. A translucent curtain is positioned in front of the stage during the opening scene, obscuring the depiction of Lia’s birthday party during their university years – as if it is a distant memory. The curtain then moves around the stage, hiding actors when they are absent from scenes but ensuring that the weight of their presence is part of the moment.

O’Neill perfects the performance of sassy, sultry advertising executive Jo, nailing the snarky, fast-paced dialogue and comedic timing across the show. Lee and Hofbauer are adept in their roles as the mild-mannered, empathetic academic Lia and the nerdy, indecisive novelist Simon.

Kevin Hofbauer as Simon and Carissa Lee as Lia (photograph courtesy of Red Stitch)

In this performance, the actors were still finding the beats within the rhythmic exchange of Warner’s rapid dialogue, but this will only improve throughout the run of the show. O’Neill’s lines act like a sharp knife cutting through the tension in awkward scenes. When Simon and Jo meet, Simon is unable to pinpoint a suitable moment to ask Jo to donate her frozen eggs so that he and Lia can conceive, blurting it out without consideration. Jo retorts quickly, asking if Simon wanted to ‘wait until dessert’ to ask her. She suggests he has chosen her because he didn’t have any other options, that she was simply one he ‘shagged earlier’.

Warner’s writing is loaded with subtext and lays bare the emotional and difficult conversations encountered in real life. It gives the actors material of substance to work with, which is reflected in the breadth of their performances.

Outside of the core plot around egg donation, there are broader themes woven into the character dynamics, such as an exploration of the fleeting nature of youth, the trials of adulting, and how friendships and romantic relationships diverge during life stages and shifting desires.

In one scene, Jo and Lia try to reconnect and reestablish the closeness of their former friendship. This interaction feels long and laboured – perhaps intentionally so – as a chasm emerges between Jo’s reluctance to forfeit her eggs and Lia’s inability to relate to Jo’s life purpose without children. They each assert their point of view, and in turn their boundaries, and come to a genuine mutual understanding that the length of their friendship doesn’t equate to closeness.

As Lia comes to the difficult decision to stop trying to conceive, she acknowledges it opens up the opportunity for travel and adventure. Jo is unwavering in her determination to focus on her career and keep her time as her own, wanting ‘everyday to be Saturday, that’s the life I want’. Yet Lia can’t fathom what Jo’s purpose would be without children.

The show is unexpectedly sensual. In particular, the bubbling sexual tension between Simon and Jo is palpable; a fitting depiction of the attraction between old flames, which doesn't always fizzle out.

At the end, each character ends up exactly as they’re supposed to, driven by their own independent choices, desires and needs, which feels authentic and real, and a reflection of individual autonomy, modern familial structures, and the impermanence of relationships in real life.

What’s Yours is an honest and unflinching portrayal of complicated relationships and the healthy discourse needed around what it means to be an adult in modern life.

What’s Yours continues at Red Stitch Theatre until 24 August 2025. Performance attended: August 1.