The Cord (NHB Modern Plays)

Ash and Anya were happy, just the two of them. Then the baby came.

Ash has spent the first two weeks of his son's life trying to work out where he fits. He watches his mother holding her grandchild for the first time, mesmerised by the mystery and delight of a new life. After she leaves, Ash watches Anya feeding their son – so close, almost intertwined.

As sleepless nights, relentless crying and hushed arguments take their toll, a storm starts to grow as a chasm widens between Ash and his son, his wife and even his own mother.

Lifting the roof off one family's home, The Cord is a brutally honest and moving insight into the challenging truths of family dynamics. It premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, written and directed by Bijan Sheibani.

'Daringly original… has the tinge of lived experience… excellent on the fractious micro-aggressions that can abruptly blossom into furious rows between a couple juggling what is simultaneously the wondrous, commonplace and often brain-destroying reality of new parenthood… feels instantly recognisable and true' – Telegraph

'Acutely observed and often searingly familiar… a valuable piece not just for any new parent or grandparent, but for anyone navigating current relationships through the ghosts of past ones… feels both universal and deeply personal, highlighting a rarely-spoken truth of parenting: children have a way of finding us out' – WhatsOnStage

'Powerfully intimate and highly relatable… very well-observed: it feels like a fly-on-the-wall documentary of the blurry first few months of being a parent. It nails the exhaustion, the rows, the anxiety, the joy – and the slow tectonic realisation that the parent you will be is not necessarily the one you want to be, and is coloured, shadowed, by the baby you were… sensitive and intelligent' – Time Out

'Tackles the under-explored topic of male post-partum depression with bravery and nuance' – The Stage