Whether you’re living in a hip apartment in 21^st-century Brooklyn, or a humble cottage in 17^th-century rural Scotland, if your body is home to the female reproductive system then time will be spent wondering or worrying about what happens to it. In new musical, A Mother’s Song, five women are divided by geography, chronology and ideology yet connected by an invisible thread of biology and song.

Sarah and Alix share a life, love and the aforementioned New York abode but not, however, the desire to have a child. Sarah also lives in the shadow of dead Aunt Betty, who raised her but disapproved of her lesbian relationship. Four centuries earlier, Cait in Stirling is in constant anguish over her husband’s desire for children, convinced the mothering instinct will desert her upon on its arrival. While Jean, living in Ulster 100 years later, can’t wait for her unborn child to be delivered. All of them (Cait and Jean in particular) live with the ever-present knowledge that history is swollen with stories of women dying in childbirth.

^{Pictures: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan}

You’d be forgiven for thinking that none of the above makes for obvious musical-theatre fair. And that such a time-swapping, character-jumping storyline would lead to confusion. But you’d be wrong on both counts. Co-creators Finn Anderson and Tania Azevedo have certainly balanced the narrative books a little, by placing a gay couple centre-story and making virtually the whole tale about the female experience; and they’ve done it with entertaining and dramatic flair. A fiercely strong cast of singer-actors also does much of the heavy lifting in terms of keeping us on track, never once making us question which country or century we’re in.

Tinashe Warikandwa, taking on three separate roles, shines particularly bright but this is an ensemble devoid of weak links. When the vocal harmonies come (and they do, plentifully) they bring tears to the eyes with their beauty. Anderson has expertly woven traditional ballads with his own compositions and the whole thing is played live by a superb four-piece band. In an era when large-scale musicals are often financially prohibitive, to have a new work of this calibre hailing from Scotland is something to be hugely proud of. May it last and travel like the traditional ballads that run through it. 

A Mother’s Song, Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling, until Sunday 26 February.