His Mother Tongue has raised and nurtured him, but now their power is waning in a land where they cannot be understood. In Mother Tongue’s place, a new voice tries to coax its way in. Welcome to the life of a migrant. Once a lyrical traveller using words to weave his way through his home country, his future path now stands silent as the two languages fight for space in his mind. Who will win?

Mother Tongue started its journey as an oral history project, seeking to share stories of migrants from Eastern Europe. Written by Ukrainian migrant Oleh Nonik, the show offers a surreal take on our relationship with language, depicting the Mother Tongue as a living being with real feelings of love, desperation, and longing.

Mother Tongue is a feast for the eyes and ears, featuring the music of Liudmila Malinovskaia alongside the incredible voice of Nadiia Sychuk, a renowned opera singer from Odesa, Ukraine.