Chunky Jewellery: Pals team up for show on motherhood and women growing up

It started as a playful conversation between two pals about how being gifted and wearing chunky jewellery signified reaching a certain age.

But, as is often the case when both are in performing arts, it spiralled into an idea for a show that tells an often untold story of women in the middle of their lives, caring down a generation for their children and upwards for their ageing parents.

Opening on Saturday at Glasgow’s Tramway Theatre, Chunky Jewellery was co-created by Barrowland Ballet’s artistic director Natasha Gilmore alongside artist Jude Williams and Ben Duke, of performance company Lost Dog.

Natasha and Jude bring their real-life bond as friends to the stage as they tell the story of one year in their lives – a time marked by two births and a death, as well as a lot of shared laughter and tears.

‘The jewellery gets bigger’

“We found it funny, this idea of what symbolises becoming a more middle-aged woman is that the jewellery gets bigger,” Natasha explained during a break from rehearsals.

“It’s no longer the delicate Diamante hearts and all that. It’s the chunkier statement jewellery. There’s something about what that symbolises that became one of the starting points for us.

“We were looking for potential well-known stories to use as an anchor for this work and realised that there aren’t really any. We don’t see ourselves represented that much.

“It’s not the story people want to hear. It’s hard to talk about, especially if you want to be honest about the fact that parenting can be challenging.”

Coinciding with International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day, Chunky Jewellery is a personal and poignant story of motherhood and womanhood.

It plays out as an alternative love story where friendship and the support that comes from it is celebrated.

While it’s an autobiographical piece, the performers hope that, by being honest and sharing their very personal stories, it can become something universal for people to identify with.

“It was scary, vulnerable, terrifying, stupid, brilliant, important,” listed Jude when asked how putting this point of her life on stage felt.

“There’s a moment in it when I speak to my mum, who’s no longer here. We’ve quizzed ourselves along the way –when does therapy become art? When does art become therapy?

“I’ve been conscious of taking good care of myself outwith the rehearsal process, but I guess it feels important to tell the truth of the stories.

“Learning the lines to play a reality of my mum’s funeral, that’s a memory that’s become slightly altered because it now belongs in this work, not just in my life.

“Honesty is actually happiness. Natasha and I have really seen each other through all of it and to know someone as intimately as we know each other – I don’t think friendship gets enough kudos. I wouldn’t have got through the last few years without my pals.

“Natasha was at my mum’s funeral, I sang at her dad’s funeral. Our stories are woven. Natasha was one of the first people to visit when my daughter Peggy was born. We’ve been each other’s lots of things, and the work plays into that.”

© Brian Hartley

Grief and joy entwined

Jude, who is also a celebrant, was particularly drawn to the direction of the work by witnessing life and death in such close proximity first-hand.

She had the 20-week scan for her daughter just one day after her mother’s death.

She said: “There’s a grief and joy theme interwoven. That was a real moment of death and life intersecting, but that is often the case, especially because folk are having kids older.

“It’s about planting the importance of community, that we need each other for the mental load, the relentless lists of looking after not just your own life, but somebody else’s.

“I’ve had to lean hard on wider circles of support. My particular experience is of being a single motherless mother but I think families, communities, whether you’re young or old or in the middle, need each other and we want to celebrate that.”

© Brian Hartley

For Natasha, an internationally respected choreographer for dance, theatre, and film, the show also marks a return to the stage as a performer after 12 years in offstage roles.

“It’s been physically quite demanding but a real privilege actually to have the opportunity to do it,” she said. “It’s a real joy.

“I think part of the statement is a return to performance having spent many years looking after children.

“It’s really different to have that availability as a live performer. That’s quite challenging when you’re up against it with a lot of childcare and responsibility.

“I’ve heard a lot of women talk about having a sense of becoming more and more invisible as they get older. We’re pushing up against that and allowing ourselves to be seen.”

Jude added: “Dance, music and art are crucial and have been a really beautiful anchor through the thick and thin of life’s challenges. It’s where I feel all my pieces come together. I’m really thankful for poets, musicians and dancers because when it hits the fan, we need art to support us in those places.”

Chunky Jewellery, Tramway Theatre, Glasgow, Saturday, March 9, at 2pm and 7.30pm. Find out more at tramway.org