Following a smash-hit run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival – which she completed just ten days before giving birth – Janine Harouni is on her debut UK tour with her brand-new show Man’oushe, with dates including February 17 at Brighton’s Corn Exchange.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely
00:06 this afternoon to speak to Janine Haruni, who is on the road for her first UK tour with
00:12 dates including Brighton. Now this is a big moment, in a series of big moments, you became
00:17 a mum not so very long ago.
00:19 That's right.
00:20 And on stage until 10 days before you gave birth. That's quite some achievement, isn't
00:25 it?
00:26 It's an achievement or a foolish display of hubris, depending on how you look at it.
00:31 Is that still in the balance then? It's an achievement, isn't it?
00:35 I don't know about that. My husband would say it was a pain in the ass.
00:39 And how have you taken to motherhood? It's such a massive change, isn't it?
00:45 Yeah, your life instantly changes. I didn't love the beginning of it. I'll be honest,
00:51 I think so many people create this story that they instantly fell in love with their baby.
00:58 But actually, I felt incredibly overwhelmed. I didn't know what I was doing. I was so worried
01:03 I was doing a bad job. And I was recovering from major abdominal surgery. So I found it
01:09 really tough. And I think maybe about six weeks into it, my son smiled at me for the
01:15 first time. And that was the first time that I really felt like...
01:18 That's when it happens.
01:19 Yeah, I really felt like a mom.
01:21 Fantastic.
01:22 And it's getting easier now. People say it gets easier. I don't think it gets easier.
01:26 I think you get better at it maybe. So I think we're starting to come into a little rhythm
01:32 with it all now. But it's tough.
01:34 Well, it's a challenge, it's change. You wait till the teenage years.
01:38 Oh, don't.
01:39 That'd be another show in itself. And for the show that you're bringing to Brighton,
01:44 you are talking about that, wanting to get pregnant, getting pregnant. You're talking
01:48 about the pregnancy and you're talking about the birth. It's a complete chapter then.
01:52 Yeah, I'm talking a lot about deciding whether or not to have a kid because it is such a
01:59 big change in your life. And what that means, especially for a woman with your career and
02:04 with your dreams. Because it does... My brother put it this way, and he didn't mean it in
02:10 a mean way. He just said, you live your life selfishly until you have a child and suddenly
02:17 it's not about you anymore. And that is a good thing, I would say.
02:22 It's a lovely thing.
02:24 It's a big change that you have to be prepared for. So I talk a lot about the sacrifices
02:29 that come. And I reflect on my grandmother, who was a singer in Lebanon, who had kids
02:38 and had her career. And I kind of talk a little bit about what she had to give up and what
02:44 I'm willing to give up and what you actually gain in the end.
02:49 And presenting this as a show, is this your way of understanding, of comprehending it
02:53 all or is it...
02:54 I think it's my...
02:55 You're there.
02:56 Yeah, no, no. It's my way of grappling with it all. It's, you know, life is a confusing
03:01 and scary time. And I think if we can laugh about it, it offers a bit of catharsis that's
03:05 definitely needed.
03:06 It's probably the only approach, isn't it really?
03:07 It's the only thing I know how to do.
03:10 Fantastic. Well, Janine, really lovely to speak to you. Good luck on this.
03:15 Lovely. Thank you. Lovely speaking to you too.
03:17 Thanks so much.
03:18 Thank you.
03:19 Bye bye now.