Hetain Patel
Mathroo Basha
→ entry · access · artist · credits · websites Updated 12 September 2025, 1.30pm
Presented by Lowry + Word of Warning as a WTF Wednesday
Acclaimed visual artist and filmmaker Hetain Patel uses movement and audio interviews to explore generational change across his Brit-Gujarati family in Mathroo Basha (Mother Tongue in Gujarati).
Following the passing of a number of first-generation immigrants in his family, British-born Hetain reflects on what is lost and what is transformed — revisiting rituals rooted in his family’s working-class Brit-Gujarati experience.
Responding physically to audio interviews of women from his family — speaking in Gujarati about inheritance, loss, and the future — Hetain delves into the emotional realities of generational change through personal movement explorations, where his body becomes the conduit…
Entry
Pay What You Decide: £20/£15/£10/£5/£0 (advance booking recommended).
Tickets: available online or call Lowry on 0161 876 2000
Time: Wednesday 12 November 2025, 8pm (no interval, ends about 8.50pm).
Location: Lowry (Aldridge Studio 1), Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ.
Access
Age Advisory: 7+ (parent/guardian/carer discretion).
Content Warning: includes the use of haze. (See here.)
Features: a contemporary dance performance work with varied content including spoken English and Gujarati; occurs in Aldridge Studio 1 on the second floor, a studio space with raked seating.
Queries: please contact Lowry on 0161 876 2183 or access@thelowry.com
Artist
London-based artist Hetain Patel has shown films, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and performance work in galleries and theatres. Hetain’s work explores identity and freedom — blending choreography, text, and popular culture.
His performance work Be Like Water was shown by Word of Warning and his 2013 TED talk Who Am I? Think Again has been viewed over 3 million times.
Credits
Creator & Performer: Hetain Patel
Rehearsal Director: Vidya Patel
Costume: Holly Waddington, Lee Yaroshevski, Malin Anderson
Creative Programmer: Clancy Flynn
Interviewees: Leela Patel, Nina Chaagan, Lola Perry, Mital Patel
Commissioned by Dance Umbrella. Made possible with the support of the Cockayne Foundation and FABRIC International.
Image: Foteini Christofilopoulou
Websites
hetainpatel.com · Facebook /hetainpatel · Insta @patelhetain