The Mothertongue Project is a collective of women artists, facilitators and healing practitioners committed to healing and transformation through the employment of participatory theatre approaches that integrate arts methodologies.

Our methodologies include Storytelling, Image Theatre, Physical Theatre/Movement, Creative Writing, Visual Arts, Forum Theatre and Expressive Arts Therapies.

We consciously create spaces for women located at the margins to speak their stories and share their experiences in order to gain power and credence within their communities.

We work across the board with young women in schools, local communities and organisations that are already engaged in women’s development as well as with professional women artists from all disciplines. In this collaborative approach we complement others’ efforts within the development process.

Founded in 2000 by Sara Matchett and Rehane Abrahams, Mothertongue is serviced by a pool of women who hold diverse qualifications in the performing, visual, literary and healing arts, arts management, arts education, community development and gender training. They bring with them a wealth of experience gathered over the years through engagement in their areas of expertise.

Mothertongue is unique in blurring the exclusive distinction between professional and community theatre. At the same time, Mothertongue provides a platform for professional and non-professional actors to share their stories in a theatrical context.

This paves the way for consciously exploring the role that the arts, and theatre in particular, can play in challenging the marginalisation and silencing of women in society and culture. In so doing we explore theatre’s potential to facilitate conversations across differences.