Being a parent and a wrestler are not dissimilar. The pay is bad. Your body hurts. No matter how hard you try, the rest of the world thinks your efforts are often ridiculous. Who would win in a battle between Instagram and the NHS? Can a working Mum fight off the patriarchy armed only with wine and self belief? Using live wrestling, interviews, monologue and a cast of the best wrestlers in London, Mummy Vs is a bold kick to the face of outdated views on what a parent should be.
Set against the backdrop of lockdown Britain, Mummy Vs is the personal account of Heather Bandenburg’s experiences of raising a baby & her battles with identity. As well as raising awareness through interviews and stories from the front line of raising the next generation, the show hopes to show the brilliant resilience of parents in a way that is impossible to ignore.
In 2021, Mummy Vs presented an experimental, work in progress show combining performance art and live wrestling to bring colour and noise to the monotony of raising children – making it clear that lockdown has given the UK a chance to change how it see’s parenting forever.
In 2022 we received another round of funding to develop the show into a touring piece that looks beyond lockdown to explore themes of guilt & parenting tropes in modern Britain told through one unlikely parent/wrestlers story. This is the first showing of the most up to date version of the show - it is a work in progress ahead of the Autumn tour.
Supported by Arts Council England and DISRUPT festival
Thank you for allowing artists to take creative risks, the world needs it now more than ever.
Programmed artist
