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HANDFUL OF HENNA - Written by Rani Moorthy
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Nasreen discovers a life of her mothers that had never been revealed
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For the first time since she was a girl, Saheeda returns to her family village, for a wedding celebration. She takes along her teenage daughter Nasreen who is annoyed at being away from her friends in England. Whilst Saheeda sends money back home and writes endless letters, Nasreen feels no connection or bond to the place, and cant understand the significance of this visit to her mother.
Back in the family village, Saheeda begins to connect with her past. Nasreen discovers a life of her mothers that had never been revealed: a blissfully happy childhood shattered when Saheeda’s mother died and her father remarried. After cutting her stepmothers’ clothes to shreds, she was sent away to live with relatives, before eventually being married off to a man in England. A marriage doomed to fail.
As mother and daughter begin to share the family history, Saheeda, just like her own mother did to her, rubs henna into Nasreen’s hands to ward off evil spirits and nightmares. Whilst in England Nasreen complained that her mother did not understand her, away from home she realises that she had not tried to understand her mother. Once sarcastic and unbelieving, Nasreen now realises she must rub henna in her mothers hands. As the wedding celebrations commence, a newfound understanding is forged between mother and daughter, and brash Nasreen reveals a sensitivity and compassion.
The idea behind the show
Handful of Henna was developed from real stories of women from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Rani Moorthy found that uniting these women was not only Islam, but also henna. Most commonly used to decorate the body of brides, the stories of these women revealed henna’s mystical attributes from ancient times related to its use in childbirth, as a way of warding off evil, as a symbol of fertility and the supernatural.
With warm humour and moving drama, Handful of Henna looks at how the power of henna helps sooth and calm fears in a fractious mother/daughter relationship. It aims to address some of the complexities of this relationship, however unlike many plays with this focus Handful of Henna creates a well-rounded and complicated mother, lifting the parent character from the stereotypical role as a backdrop or oppressor to her child.
Through a narrative driven by multidimensional and flawed characters, we see how Saheeda’s childhood helped shape her later life in England and her relationship with her daughter. The play examines how mothers need to be understood by their daughters as much as how daughters need to be understood by the mothers. It aims to show that whatever age people are, they have secrets, hopes and fears, and by understanding these across the generations a new empathy can be found in family relationships.
By being both entertaining and emotionally engaging, the richness of Rani Moorthy’s play encourages an audience to reflect on there own cultural view of family relationships and loyalties. Some may see difference, or the similarity of the unfamiliar. Others may see the universality of human situations or an unfamiliar reflection of the familiar. Whatever an individual’s response, the play elicits both an intelligent engagement with, as well as a joyful response to the deeper understanding arrived at between a parent and child.
The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Friday 26 March @ 7.30pm
Saturday 27 March @ 4.00pm and 8.00pm
Duration: 75 minutes with no interval
Age: 7+
Tickets: £9.50 Adults, £6.50 Concessions, £4.75 Students & Under 26s, £4.00 Under 13s
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Source: APNA, 9th February 2010
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