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Mothertongues by Ceridwen Dovey and Eliza Bell review – a bold experiment in form
In their abstract weaving of genres, the writers attempt to relay the chaos, wonder and grief of motherhood. It doesn’t always work – but when it does, it’s a triumph
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email and listen to our podcastHow do we capture something as complex and chaotic as becoming a mother? How do we survive it? In Mothertongues, acclaimed author Ceridwen Dovey and writer and actor Eliza Bell – both mothers – attempt to answer the question by way of a deconstructed, genre-bending collaboration. As Bell puts it in the intro: “As an artistic form, absurdism really captures something about motherhood.”
The form of Mothertongues is striking. It sits somewhere at the intersection of experimental non-fiction and auto-fiction, borrowing liberally from other genres and forms to create a collective, meandering narrative about the early years of motherhood, when mothers are pushed to the boundaries of themselves again and again. Bell and Dovey weave together their reflections, using theatre, life-modelling, text messages, memoir and the hero’s journey as vessels for their experiences. It is an experiment in form (which Dovey, the author of Only the Animals and Blood Kin, is known for) that works in tandem with its topic: motherhood is lived in fragments, in bursts of clarity and in relentless, exhausting repetition.
“When I watch these kinds of plays performed – the absurdist ones – sometimes I think, This is terrible! Even though I know the experience of confusion and frustration is very deliberate. But then, after a while, something pops – a poetic image that is briefly beautiful even if I don’t understand it.”
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