Society has grown up with the expectation that women will get married to men and have children. The men will go to work, while the women will tend to the chores around the home as they care for the kids. It speaks volumes about the heteropatriarchal model on which traditional society has been modelled. But what if you don’t want to have children, you fear the world that they will be born into, or you can’t have children because your body betrays you.

Storked deals with pregnancy, parenting, same sex relationships and communal living. It does so in a series of vignettes, mainly through absurdity, but underneath it real questions are being asked, questions that involve fear, pain and anguish. Among the latter is endometriosis. In fact, the concept for the play came to writer and performer Myf Hocking in a doctor’s office.
That is where, after a decade of at times debilitating pain, they were diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome. After some less than diplomatic advice, a wave of heartbreak and fury swept over Hocking. That was about how those assigned as female at birth are treated, how they are socialised, oppressed and what expectations are placed upon them. In short, their bodies are treated as vessels. And so it is that Storked was born.
Five actors – Hocking, Milo Hartill, Kikki Temple, Teo Vergara and Elliot Wood – do the heavy lifting over four acts. They assume various roles and scrap and love and call each other to account. They are playful and belligerent. Visual gags and drama are plentiful. The traditional symbol of birthing, a stork – complete with striking costuming, including wings and a long orange beak, by Jodi Hope – is an amusing mainstay.
From alien birth and what looks like a giant spider, reminiscent of the film War of the Worlds, to references to baby abandonment, hysterectomy and abortion, it is all there. Christmas “celebrations” loom large too. While off the wall, it is a means to an end, shining a searing light on the normative and the desire for change and acceptance.
Directed by Maude Davey, Storked is boldly creative, which extends to two-tiered staging – some of it behind a black curtain – lighting, video and sound. It is playing at Theatre Works until 24th May, 2025.
Alex First
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- A Body at Work (Theatre Works) – theatre review
- Perpetual Frustration Machine (Theatre Works) – theatre review
- The Cave of Spleen (Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory) – theatre review

Alex First is the editor of The Blurb. Alex is a Melbourne based journalist and communications specialist. He also contributes to The Blurb on film and theatre.