Welsh actress Kimberley Nixon is returning home with Baby Brain, a bold and deeply personal one-woman show exploring motherhood and mental health. Best known for roles in Fresh Meat and Under Salt Marsh, Kimberley launches the UK tour in Pontypridd before heading to festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Blending dark comedy with honest storytelling, Baby Brain shines a light on the rarely discussed reality of Postpartum Psychosis. Ahead of her homecoming performance, we caught up with Kimberley to talk about bringing the show back to where it all began.
It feels scary, but the good kind of scary. I not only grew up in Ynysybwl and Ponty, but have lived here my entire career — I never left. Usually, when performing, I have to go away, so my life here in Pontypridd is totally separate. So oddly, it feels like two worlds colliding.
Almost definitely. I haven’t let anyone close to me see the show yet, so this particular audience will be full of people I know. Whilst there’s a comfort there, I find it hardest to act in front of the people who know me best. But I hope to use that fear and insecurity and channel it into Cass’s disorientation in the show.
To be honest? It’s cheaper! There’s just three of us involved in Baby Brain. Myself and writer/directors Tim Claque and Danny Stack. We’ve created a few screen projects together, but that process is incredibly slow and even more expensive. Theatre gave us the chance to get something out there, now and on our own terms.
Funding. It costs money to put on a show. Venue hire, travel, insurance, accommodation, equipment — it’s endless. But we surpassed our Kickstarter target, helping us get to more venues from Pontypridd all the way to Edinburgh Fringe.
Distance and stamina. I’m based in Ponty and the boys live in Bournemouth, so we don’t get to be in a room rehearsing as much as we’d like. And the show is a rollercoaster from beginning to end. A full hour of non-stop confusion, misdirection and thought-streams. It can be exhausting as an actor.
Cass is suffering from postpartum psychosis, whilst I dealt with severe postnatal OCD. But there is huge crossover in themes of isolation, terror, loneliness and trying to find a laugh in the darkest times.
Pretty overwhelming, but nice to hear. Tim, Danny and I like to mess around and make each other laugh first and foremost, so to go from that starting point to creating a piece of theatre like this and have people come on an emotional journey with us is really quite special.
Motherhood and unreal expectations of it are universal. I’m Welsh, I have a Welsh accent, I use some Welsh language and idioms in the show, but I genuinely think it could be performed all over the world and other women would just “get it”.
That having a mental health condition doesn’t define you as a mother. What women really go through from pregnancy, through birth, all the way to the postpartum years, and how they can lose themselves in a way they never expected.
I’ve wanted to experience the Edinburgh Fringe since I was at drama school. So it may be twenty years late, but heading up there with a show I’ve co-created feels like a dream.
Tim, Danny and I met on a film set. Their background is film. I love acting on camera. I think it’s always in the back of our minds how we could shoot Baby Brain or adapt it for TV, but for now we want to put all our energy and focus into bringing it alive on stage.
As Baby Brain embarks on its UK tour, it’s clear that this is more than just a performance; it’s a conversation starter, a reflection, and for many, a moment of recognition.By blending humour with raw emotional truth, Kimberley Nixon is helping to shine a light on an often misunderstood experience, inviting audiences not just to watch, but to feel and to understand. And as she brings the show home to Pontypridd, there’s a sense that this powerful story is exactly where it belongs — shared within a community, and carried far beyond it.
