Mathroo Basha, 2024-26 Performance

Following the passing of a number of first-generation immigrants in his family, British born Hetain reflects on what is lost and what is transformed, revisiting rituals rooted in his family’s working-class Brit-Gujarati experience.
Responding physically to audio interviews of women from his family speaking in Gujarati about inheritance, loss and the future, Mathroo Basha (Mother Tongue in Gujarati) delves into the emotional realities of generational change through personal movement explorations where his body becomes the conduit.

Performed in English and Gujarati.
Running time: 45 minutes, no interval

Credits:

Performer and creator: Hetain Patel
Rehearsal Director: Vidya Patel
Costume: Holly Waddington, Lee Yaroshevski, Malin Anderson
Creative Programmer: Clancy Flynn
Interviewees: Leela Patel, Nina Chaagan, Lola Perry, Mital Patel

Sponsor credits:

Presented as part of Dance Umbrella Festival 2024 at the Barbican.
Commissioned by Dance Umbrella. Made possible with the support of the Cockayne Foundation and Fabric International.

Photographer: Foteini Christofilopoulou