{"id":332275,"date":"2026-03-06T16:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/332275\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:17:11","slug":"anti-american-snark-meets-the-pitt-in-the-surrogate-a-blistering-drama-about-a-broken-healthcare-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/332275\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-American snark meets The Pitt in The Surrogate, a blistering drama about a broken healthcare system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarena Parmar in The Surrogate.Kendra Epik\/Supplied<\/p>\n

Title: The SurrogateWritten by: Mohsin ZaidiDirector: Christopher ManousosActors: Fuad Ahmed, Thom Nyhuus, Sarena Parmar, Antonette Rudder, Siddarth SharmaCompany: Here For Now Theatre, in association with Crow\u2019s Theatre, House and Body and b current Performing ArtsVenue: Crow\u2019s TheatreCity: TorontoYear: Runs to March 29<\/p>\n

Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n

Last September, techno-culture magazine Wired published an article titled, \u201cThe Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It?\u201d Equal parts harrowing and infuriating<\/a>, the feature \u2013 which soon went viral \u2013 captured the surrogacy industry\u2019s more sinister sides, exploring what happens when an arrangement between wealthy, powerful parents and an unrelated woman\u2019s womb turns sour.<\/p>\n

The Surrogate \u2013 astonishingly, British lawyer Mohsin Zaidi\u2019s first play \u2013 further twists the knife into a business riddled with spikes. It\u2019s no less provocative than that Wired piece, and, in fact, owing to the immediacy of director Christopher Manousos\u2019s intimate staging, it packs an even more grotesque wallop.<\/p>\n

Of course, at its best, surrogacy is beautiful, a transaction that embodies the best of human generosity and love. Indeed, when we first meet soon-to-be parents, Canadian yuppies Sameer and Jake (Fuad Ahmed and Thom Nyhuus, both outstanding), there\u2019s no reason to believe their arrangement with surrogate Marya (Sarena Parmar) has been anything but smooth sailing. Marya completed the necessary psychological evaluations, we learn; Sameer and Jake are monied and ambitious, willing to cover Marya\u2019s expenses and then some as she carries their unborn child to term.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Thom Nyhuus and Fuad Ahmed in The Surrogate.Kendra Epik\/Supplied<\/p>\n

But the promise of a new baby is emotionally taxing at the best of times, beyond picking out names or deciding the perfect shade of custard-yellow for the nursery. It\u2019s tougher when the child\u2019s parents are queer, or, in Sameer\u2019s case, when they possess a litigious, hair-trigger temper that flares up at the first sign of conflict. It\u2019s harder still when, in an explosion of lies, heartache and fluorescent-lit anguish (the production\u2019s punchy lighting design is by Chris Malkowski), the surrogate expresses doubts about giving up the baby \u2013 even when there\u2019s no genetic link between her and the child. <\/p>\n

Even worse, Marya has \u2013 for some reason \u2013 travelled from her home state of Texas to Louisiana, where paid surrogacy is illegal, and where any documents pertaining to such an arrangement are, in effect, null and void.<\/p>\n

Following on his terrific Measure for Measure in Crow\u2019s teeny studio space last year, Manousos offers a brisk, brave staging of a play that occasionally wobbles into melodrama \u2013 at times, it feels as if a few of Zaidi\u2019s lines anticipate applause or even a commercial break. <\/p>\n

But under Manousos\u2019s confident hand, and on Scott Penner\u2019s mirrored set, which sculpts the venue into an overwhelming, carnivalesque hospital room, the whole thing sings. At its best, it almost feels like a bonus episode of The Pitt, laser-focused on the intersection between the United States\u2019 broken medical system and the social issues that pock everyday life with prejudice and distrust. (And Pitt fans, rejoice: Intubation makes an appearance in the play.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting earlier drafts of The Surrogate were titled American Baby \u2013 a misnomer, maybe, but one that would have broadcasted the anti-American sentiment baked into Zaidi\u2019s powerful, evocative script. One need not look hard in the play for jabs at the country\u2019s ludicrously expensive health-care system, or the sociocultural landmines that exist in the deep south for members of the country\u2019s queer communities. (The former title raises the question, as well: Would Jake and Sameer\u2019s baby be Canadian, like their dads? American? Something else? Another thorn in the rosebush of unconventional paths to parenthood, especially in Canada, where surrogacy is legal, but compensation for it is not.)<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Antonette Rudder and Sarena Parmar in The Surrogate.Kendra Epik\/Supplied<\/p>\n

What\u2019s perhaps most impressive about Zaidi\u2019s writing is its willingness to cut deep: It doesn\u2019t scratch the surface of surrogacy, and instead hacks the practice open with a poison-tipped machete. In plenty of ways, Jake and Sameer are awful people, yet they\u2019re also the victims of bigotry \u2013 arguably, even hate crimes \u2013 as soon as they walk through the door of the hospital. Marya\u2019s been through hell and back in the months leading up to the events of The Surrogate, yet the choices she makes in the play are close to indefensible; the same\u2019s true of her son Qasim (Siddharth Sharma).<\/p>\n

Nurse Christina (an excellent Antonette Rudder) similarly holds dual selves under the umbrella of her job as an overworked labour and delivery nurse, but the character feels like a composite of several hospital workers at once \u2013 The Surrogate sags most when Zaidi stretches Christina too thin. <\/p>\n

Even so, Ahmed and Nyhuus\u2019s performances are among the best of the year so far, ugly and vulnerable and extraordinarily well-considered. Just when the audience starts to sympathize with Jake and Sameer, Nyhuus and Ahmed change course, further injecting the play with acerbic wit. (The final beats of the play, in particular, are disgusting and painful, anchored by Ahmed\u2019s willingness to explore the darkest depths of Sameer\u2019s bruised soul: You might find yourself feeling in need of a shower by the time the house lights turn back on.)<\/p>\n

Much like The Pitt, The Surrogate isn\u2019t without its foibles \u2013 it\u2019s unsubtle in its politics and occasionally far-fetched in its compressed, blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it pacing. But the play offers a piercing, meditative look behind the curtain of an industry shrouded in stigma, where the real villain isn\u2019t a person at all: It\u2019s an American society unwilling to look after its neediest citizens, and a health-care system unable to supply the ingredient most crucial to starting a family \u2013 love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Sarena Parmar in The Surrogate.Kendra Epik\/Supplied Title: The SurrogateWritten by: Mohsin ZaidiDirector: Christopher…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60,19293,563],"class_list":["post-332275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-noastack","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}