Middle class, middle aged multicultural mother of millennial sons, Sudha lives a “squeezed middle” life in Wimbledon. As she navigates her career, family and returning to India as a NRI (Non-Resident Indian), she is prompted to investigate her own sense of home and her place in the world.
Evening Conversations is a warm-hearted monologue inspired by Sudha’s banter with her dual-heritage (Pakistani/East African Indian) millennial sons who have grown up in leafy Wimbledon while her life has spanned three continents. She invites her boys to ‘crack open a cold one’ and share their views on life. Will her fiercely British sons see their heritage as a place of strength or an unwelcome inheritance?
Being cooped up together during the pandemic may have dampened their spirits, but it certainly sharpened their tongues. Shots are fired in the quick-fire exchanges between mother and sons, forcing Sudha to take stock.
Evening Conversations is part of a collection of work, written by Sudha Bhuchar and produced by her acclaimed theatre company Bhuchar Boulevard, that explores aspects of family life, friendship, transition, grief, identity, and connection. These intimate works include Touchstone Tales, an exploration of the theme of ‘touch’ with communities in Bury Park Luton and the forthcoming Artichoke Hearts, an adaptation of Sita Brahmachari’s award-winning multicultural coming of age novel. Sudha’s evolving practice of capturing verbatim conversations as a journey into writing also informed the moving evocation of pandemic loss, love and resilience, Final Farewell, which premiered at Tara Theatre last year and has since played at Brighton Fringe and, this September, at Queens Theatre Hornchurch and Greenwich and Docklands festival.
‘Full of truth and beauty…. really brave. My mum kept on poking me – you’ve given her a lot of ammo!’
Riz Ahmed
SOHO THEATRE
21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
020 7478 0100
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