“La Concha de tu Madre”, a new cabaret by women, artists and mothers

On April 8 at 8:00 p.m., at Antic Teatre, the premiere of La Concha de tu Madre Cabaret will take place: a 75-minute show featuring four artistic acts linked together by a master of ceremonies. The pieces are performed by guest circus artists who are currently going through the process of motherhood.

By definition, cabaret is a space for entertainment, but also for creation, protest, provocation and transgression, where freedom of speech and the defense of diversity stand out. It is an open stage format that can include dance, song, circus, effeuillage, magic, or any other form of stage expression.

Originally, cabaret was presented in the form of a revue: a burlesque and satirical look at the events of the year. These are shows that are not written from beginning to end, and therefore can transform from one night to the next thanks to improvisation and the present context. Cabaret is thus a performing form of freedom, transgression and celebration.

La Concha de tu Madre fits within this tradition: a proposal in which women creators and performing artists take over this space of freedom and protest while going through the experience of motherhood.

The project was born from a personal initiative by Lucha Emilia, the show’s master of ceremonies, after experiencing the transformative and overwhelming process of becoming a mother, and from the need to defend an artistic, social and professional identity:

The difficulties and precarity of the status—or lack of status—of being a circus artist and a migrant (at the time without a family support network) shook me to the core after becoming a mother: how do you return to creating, devote yourself to a profession without schedules, with a transformed body and the responsibility of raising and supporting a family?

From these concerns, a network of women has gradually been woven together, women who have gone through similar experiences. Each with her own conditions and story, but sharing a sense of instability and a desire to continue existing as artists.

Without even knowing each other, our gazes are complicit: breastfeeding, diapers, fever, deep love, partner, fear, sadness, mental load, feminism, raising children… how do I keep living? Dark circles and exhaustion give us away; love and desperation keep us moving.

La Concha de tu Madre aims to bring these women together and their desire to live the stage: to mock their condition rather than disappear behind their children; to laugh at what drives them to despair; to twist the tenderness of motherhood and take the stage to enjoy and defend what they are: artists.

Practical information

• The first version will take place on April 8 at 8:00 p.m. at Antic Teatre.
• The project can be supported through this link.