Review: Unfamiliar At Home Online Stream

Victor and Yorgos are a couple, two guys in love. Just two guys in a flat, they have each other, they are their own little family unit. But are they happy? Are they fulfilled? Are they complete? Are they ready to take their relationship to the next level? Will they ever set a date? Will they ever welcome a child into their little family? Do they even want children? 

Where are the answers to life’s big questions? What are the rights and wrongs to life’s big decisions? 

Unfamiliar at Home is a deeply personal insight into the lives of Victor and Yorgos and their process of deciding to add to their family. Performed over Zoom, the piece journals the show’s own creation as well as the pair’s own personal journey to potential fatherhood. We are introduced to the couple through many questions and memories, picking apart tiny details of their relationship and you feel that you get the know the pair and are taken along on the journey with them. 

The audience are onlookers to this big moment in the couple’s lives, and as both Victor and Yorgos describe their experiences with their difficult families, you feel for them both. There is a feel of near constant battle with their fears and families as they walk around the room over and over or twist the rug up under their feet as they describe their issues. We see them speak tender loving words but facing away from each other. It’s unclear if they are practising wedding vows or they are perhaps afraid to say such things to each other’s faces; either way it’s a nice moment. 

The pair’s project ‘Unfamiliar’ both chronicles the experiences of many members of the LQBT community with becoming parents (many of whom we hear as voiceovers throughout the piece), but it also guides their own decision-making process. Both are incredibly honest and open about their fears, worries and issues, questioning every little thing. Can they get past their fears of being parents, their concerns about their own parents, about money, pandemics, climate change, safety, discrimination, politics and careers? Why would anyone want to bring a child into all of that? 

Victor narrates a great deal of this personal story, setting out a timeline of the show’s creation and their own timeline as they meet with doctors, do tests, research egg doners and meet surrogates. It’s a long road to parenthood for the pair, but as the performance draws to a close, you are hopeful for a happy ending for them. 

Overall, Unfamiliar at Home is an in-depth personal look into the journey to parenthood for LQBT families. It asks a lot of questions, and explains the ins and outs of the long winded process. It’s brutally open and personal, and Victor and Yorgos tell a story that deserves to be told and needs to be heard. 

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Rebecca Wallis