Join Mothers Who Make and Spork! for a relaxed and uplifting lunchtime show at MakeTank, Exeter. Featuring the mother of all line ups!
Mother Tongue is a revolutionary new daytime spoken word event which amplifies mother artists and creates space for audiences with caring roles. We will be joined by South West artists Tanya Morel, Micha Colombo and Helen Sheppard with a headline set from Deanna Rodgers.
This will be both a relaxed and lively event. Everyone is welcome! The content will be adult centred but children very welcome too. We will have mats and toys, and you will be free to follow little explorers about the space. You do not need to have children with you. You can bring your lunch, bring a cusion or bring a date.
This space particularly seeks to include those who cannot easily access evening shows or who feel excluded when daytime shows do not support caring roles. This is a space to feel welcome and visible, and get culturally filled up. Nom nom.
The mother of all line ups:
DEANNA RODGER has been integral to the progression of performance poetry and spoken word in the U.K, especially in London where she has made a name for herself as part of the poetry collectives Keats House Poetry Forum and the popular poetry events Chill Pill and Come Rhyme With Me. Her first collection of poetry, I Did It Too, celebrating a decade of work, came out in 2017 (Burning Eye Books). Here recent commissions include ‘Bigger Than Sport’ (Sports Personality of The Year BBC1), ‘Black History Matters’ (BBC Sport), and ‘If’ #ChangeTheGame, read by Serena Williams on International Women’s Day (BBC Sport.) In 2021 she released His Fingers Have Left, a pamphlet of five form poems responding to Kevin Elyot's archive in the Bristol University's Theatre Collection (Burning Eye Books). Deanna is a Mother of two.
MICHA COLOMBO is a writer, actor, storyteller and poet based in Exeter. Her poetry has been published in Oranges Journal, Birch Moon Press and the Hot Poets Sparks anthology. She writes about motherhood, the body, and nature and is currently working on a feminist retelling of the Medusa myth. Micha is a Mother to three children.
TANYA MOREL trained as an actor and toured internationally for many years . She is one of the founding members of Oddbodies, an award-winning production company making new work for theatre, film and the visual arts. Tanya studied Fine Art at University College Falmouth alongside becoming a mother. She has her own visual arts practice specialising in printmaking, painting and ceramic sculpture. She specialises in print animation and teaches in schools, colleges, libraries and prisons. Tanya discovered poetry in lockdown, and has been exploring this new passion with Mothers Who Make and Arts & Energy workshops; she has had two poems published in anthologies over the last year. Tanya lives on Dartmoor with her husband Paul and their three children.
HELEN SHEPPARD is a Bristol based writer and worked as a midwife. Her poetry explores themes of birth, health loss, and those whose voices are often unheard. She started to write in her forties during a ‘kick start your reading’ class. She has performed at various events including Milk Poetry, RTB, Torriano Meeting House and Harvard Medical School. Helen’s work has been Published widely, including These are the Hands, Under the Radar. Her debut poetry collection 'Fontanelle' was published 2021 by Burning Eye Books. Helen interviews extraordinary poets for her podcast Health Beat Poets, for their ‘take’ on Poetry & Health. Helen is a Mother to three adult children, is a carer to her Aunt Doreen who recently celebrated her 100th birthday and also looks after three chickens.
This event is produced by Lizzy Humber (Mothers Who Make) and Spork! Poetry CIC
Supported by MakeTank and Arts Council England.
Cost: £6 - Children go free*
*(please just tell us how many children will accompany you.)
If cost is a barrier, for whatever reason, we have a pay what you can option.
Accessibility Statement: The performance space at MakeTank is fully wheelchair accessible and step-free. This is a relaxed daytime performance, with minimal noise and lights. For any additional access questions, please do get in touch.