EDINBURGH 2026: MAIDEN MOTHER WHORE Q&A

BWW catches up with performer Himadri to chat about bringin Maiden Mother Whore to the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Maiden Mother Whore.

Maiden | Mother | Whore  is an interdisciplinary, interactive, multimedia performance rooted in South Asian classical dance vocabulary. It is performed by 5 dancers and 1 live musician. The themes of the project explore the complex relationships between women, social structures, health and social policies, and institutions. It challenges assumptions about gender, society and power. The project emerged from a creative partnership between Theiyā Arts Dance Collective and academics, Dr. Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr. Ingrid Young from the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society, with interaction with the audience at its core.

How has the show been received so far?

The show has so far been presented at a sharing in 2023, at Southside Community Centre. At Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh, Civic House in Glasgow, and as part of the Being Human Festival in 2024.

Alongside the performances, Theiya Arts received a fellowship at the Centre of Biomedicine, Self and Society at the University of Edinburgh. In 2024, we also hosted a symposium in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University at Dance Base.

Through these performances and events, our experience has been that audiences engage deeply and critically with the themes explored in the work. Our main aim has always been to create space for dialogue with the audience, allowing them to process their thoughts and reflections on these themes in the moment. We have received both written and verbal feedback from audience members, many of whom shared that they felt seen, heard, and represented through the performance.

How involved can the audience get?

During the Fringe performance, as the audience enters the theatre, they will be invited to interact with the Postcard Library. This is an installation featuring images on postcards that capture the themes of the project. Audience members will be invited to pick an image they feel drawn to, write a response on the back of the postcard, and add it to our library. 

After this, they will be invited to take a seat. On their seats, they will find excerpts from reading material that has shaped the project. From there, they will watch a live performance that explores themes of gender-role conditioning in childhood and intersectionality, followed by a performance that includes responses to some of the words they have left on the postcards. 

Over time, these postcards have become an archive of our journey with multiple audiences. Each day, the audience, along with providing their response to the postcard, can also engage with the words left by people who have watched this project in the past. So, they are not just interacting with the performers; they are also interacting with the people who watched the show before them and the people who will watch it after them. 

How important is it to have Edinburgh based companies represented at the festival?

Edinburgh is home to so many artists creating thoughtful, high-quality work, and the Fringe is one of the few times when audiences and industry professionals from around the world come to the city. It is important that Edinburgh-based companies have the opportunity to be seen on that international platform, allowing their work to reach far wider audiences. Local artists play a vital role in shaping the city's creative identity throughout the year, and their presence at the Fringe ensures the festival reflects the richness and diversity of the community it is rooted in. 

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

With Maiden| Mother| Whore, our hope is that, first, the audience has the space to engage with academic research through multiple mediums and have the space for reflection/dialogue about their lived experience in relation to gender, power and policies. Or maybe just feel seen and heard themselves or perhaps offer a critical perspective on the project. And then, perhaps have space to express their emotions about our collective experiences, whether it's a sense of solidarity or an outlet for rage.  Either way, our hope is that this project is an ongoing dialogue, conversations that might start during the performance but continue long after it ends. 

 Maiden Mother Whore runs at Edfringe 18-30 August

Photo credit: itsthekey

Sponsored content

Get Broadway News on WhatsApp

Receive the latest updates, breaking news, and exclusive coverage from Broadway directly in WhatsApp.

Need more Scotland Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...