Promoting the rights of women seeking asylum in the UK
Motherland tells the true stories of women and children who have been detained in Yarls Wood immigration removal centre.
Juliet Stevenson in Motherland
Directed by Juliet Stevenson, it first showed at the Young Vic Theatre in London in 2008, with Helen Bamber and Baroness Helena Kennedy speaking after the performances. Juliet Stevenson, Harriet Walter, Barbara Flynn and Paola Dionisotti were among the actors.
We then took Motherland to Westminster and showed it in the House of Commons, with the support of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. Motherland was last shown at the Bedford Civic Theatre, near to Yarl’s Wood detention centre. Patrick Hall, Labour MP for Bedford, and Alistair Burt, Conservative MP for North-East Bedfordshire, joined an audience discussion after the performance.
At each performance of Motherland we have been joined by women who have been detained in Yarls Wood, including Meltem Avcil, Trude Ndagire and Yeukai Taruvinga. We are particularly grateful to them for their bravery in speaking up on these occasions.
Motherland in the press and in Parliament:
MPs comment on Motherland in Parliament, 10 February 2010
Alistair Burt MP and Patrick Hall MP speaking after Motherland, January 2010
Patrick Hall MP: "Public awareness [of child detention] has also been boosted by Juliet Stevenson's Motherland. I was pleased that, at my instigation, it was performed in Bedford last month to a packed Civic theatre."
Alistair Burt: "It was an extraordinary production. Juliet Stevenson and her colleagues presented a series of stories of children who had been caught up in detention, excellently and, as the hon. Gentleman has said, to a packed theatre."
"Actress gives a voice to the forgotten of Yarl’s Wood" Juliet Stevenson speaks about Motherland in the local paper, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 18 December 2009
Natasha Walter describes meeting Meltem Avcil and the inspiration for Motherland, The Guardian 14 March 2008
"Try to get in to see the play Motherland," Anthony Barnett comments on Motherland in the Guardian, 11 March 2008
"Stars of British theatre, film and television will tonight turn the spotlight on what they describe as the brutal treatment of women and children seeking asylum in the UK" Robert Verkaik describes Motherland in the Independent, 02 March 2008
"From motherhood to MMR and now refugees, Juliet Stevenson has always been pulled by passions beyond acting" The Daily Telegraph interviews Juliet Stevenson about Motherland, 18 February 2008 Read more
Beatrice, who was detained in Yarls Wood with her children, speaks after Motherland in Bedford.
