Nana
work-in-progress
written by Jayne Walling
with dramaturgical support by
Mercedes Bátiz-Benét
Creative Coach: Federico Shwindt
I was raised by a beautiful liar. My mother tells me Nana's done things, unspeakable things but she won't say anything more. I know she was born on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean where the sugar cane grows high, and she always smelled of French perfume. She became a renowned doctor and had a remedy for every ailment, until they told her she wasn't allowed to practice any more. I was her favorite. I know because she bought me a white plastic Mercedes Benz.
Nana tells the story of a woman rocked by the death of her closest family member, mentor and heroine: her Mauritian grandmother. As she pieces together the fragments of a family past woven with secrets and lies, she begins to question whether the woman she loved was the woman she knew. As the past rises to the surface, how willing is she to risk losing her identity and memories by daring to remove the masks one by one to finally see the face beneath?
2022 - showing in Peek Show 13, produced by Impulse Theatre
2023 - In residence with MAVN network
2022 - WorkPlay Series in collaboration with Puente Theatre