You, Me and Him

At 40, Olivia is a career-driven lawyer in a stable relationship with her younger girlfriend, Alex. Happy at home and at work, Olivia has no interest in children - at least until she finds herself sobbing uncon­trollably at a friend's pregnan­cy and realises her own bio­logical clock is a ticking time-bomb. When she brings up the issue with Alex, howev­er, her free-spirited young girl­friend sticks by her anti-mater­nal principles, and the rift be­tween the pair deepens. Olivia, knowing her time is limited, jumps the gun and goes ahead with the artificial in­semination treatment behind Alex's back. Alex, in her turn, takes revenge on Olivia by getting drunk and sleeping with her sleazy, sexist neighbour, John (played by man-of-the-moment David Tennant). Alex, regretting her 2 drunken mistakes, immediately turns around and confesses to Olivia, and the pair of them commence trying to patch things up. It as this point that both women discover that they are pregnant, and both feel very different about it, with Olivia taking poorly to the mayhem of morn­ing-sickness and bizarre cravings, while Alex takes to things like a pregnant duck to water, all pregnan­cy glow and mybody-is-a-temple cliches. Just when things look like they can't get any more hectic, John gets wind of the pregnancy, and sees becoming a father as his chance to give his lite meaning, becoming incessantly involved with NCT classes, ultrasounds, and late-night fridge-raids, and adding to the madness come disapproving par­ents, confused colleagues, and ignorant obstetricians. But none of this can prepare Olivia for the heartache of seeing her partner experience a miscarriage. The doctor can only do his inadequate best to break the news to Alex, but some feelings simply can't be put into words. Olivia finds herself becoming a constant reminder of Alex's tragedy and moves out, sending her spiralling into a sadness she never knew. For the relationship to survive, Olivia has to learn that love, marriage and family are all just labels , waking up to yourself means letting go of what you imaged your life to be, and that pregnancy is a bitch. Fish Without Bicycles is a bold, intelligent, warm and deeply funny exploration of love and pregnancy in the 21st century.