If not for Juno, Knocked Up, and Jamie-Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin having already made one of a woman's most private matters a subject acceptable for public gossip, Rebecca Tourino’s play would be unnecessary, maybe even too invasive. Ten years ago, I would not have felt comfortable reviewing Quickening, which gives an inside look at a Planned Parenthood center in Portland, Oregon. It’s not a matter of worrying about being politically correct; it’s more that, as a man, there’s simply no way for me to fully understand the experience, and it's not worth pretending to try. The best I can do is judge Quickening from a theatrical standpoint. From that end, I can safely say Tourino shows some significant storytelling skill and more than a little bravery for Albertine Theatre's first production.
Quickening spares no mundane detail in showing the realities of modern-day abortion in an age when they often get overlooked. It was these details that caused Juno MacGuff to decide to deliver her baby; as frivolous as some saw that justification in Juno, the mundane and logistic issues are some of the biggest roadblocks facing the characters of Quickening. Be it the three-hour drive from the sticks (and waiting even longer for the doctor to show), or the hunger from not being able to eat before surgery, there are more hurdles to overcome in having an abortion than just political or moral stances. Left unspoken for the most part is the backdrop of the health insurance crisis, the safety concerns presented by Army of God types, and the irresponsibility of the fathers when marriage is not involved. Of course, the moral considerations are the ones that last the longest, and we can immediately see changes in the mindsets in all four characters after they—hold your breath—all end up going through with the procedure.
In keeping with the gritty, realistic theme, Tourino has crafted a remarkably complementary, emotionally affecting, and instantly relatable cast of characters. They include a British academic who sees herself as above going to a clinic, a coquettish (or in colloquial terms, slutty) Latin girl with deceptive book smarts, a Catholic mother of two, and a recent college grad, proud (however foolishly) to be making her first decision as a woman. The intelligence of the characters—socially and emotionally as well as intellectually—shifts constantly, depending on the moment and on the character. While the play’s dialogue can get a little too poetic at points, Quickening never sees its characters lose their charms or devolve into archetypes. These realistic characterizations are crucial to Quickening; the more audience members can draw parallels to people they know, the easier it is to admit that the realities of abortion are ever-present in society, but get lost behind the more theoretical issues.
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