Liz Hart

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PERFORMING PARENTHOOD 2017 OFFICIAL SELECTION:

Liz Hart (UK, Gloucestershire)
Mummy Monster (2016)
Filmed Theatre Performance/Live Art

ARTIST STATEMENT:

“Mummy Monster began it’s life whilst I was spending long hours at home caring for my young family. I was interested in how their chaos could contribute to rather than interrupt the creative process. The early material was developed along side my children and I was inspired by the quiet of the kitchen at night, it’s atmosphere, surfaces and objects.

Mummy Monster has become a powerful and exciting solo kitchen show about caring for small children. The show is about one woman’s journey from a seeming state of balance into a monstrous state where she is no longer fully in control. It is an exploration of the times when you, as a parent “lose it” and is an honest look at the pressures of parenting. I have used by growing expertise in The Commedia del-arte to create something that is recognisable and accessible to new audiences whilst giving me as a performer an opportunity to find a bigger physicality, make bolder choices and take pleasure in the comedy, tragedy and grotesque. Mummy Monster is frank, funny and ferocious and raises wider questions about what responsibility individuals and society might have to support parents and raise children.

Since becoming a parent I had almost stopped going to the theatre. Mummy Monster is written for those who do not go to the theatre, but do regularly find themselves in the kitchen. I began to perform in private kitchens and in community venues that were already familiar to my target audiences and that had crèche facilities close by. I have followed the performances by a discussion around the kitchen table and have discovered that parents from very different backgrounds to me are having similar experiences.”


 
Liz Hart obtained a Fine Art degree at Wimbledon School of Art, London, and a diploma degree in Circus Arts and Physical Theatre at Circomedia, Bristol. She is a Producer of Bric a Brac Productions, a Co-Producer of Lady Strong’s Bonfire, a Performer, Deviser and Teacher as well as a Mask & Puppet Maker.

www.ladystrongsbonfire.co.uk