Mother Tongue
What is language?
Still Here, Camden Fringe 2025 at Bridewell Theatre
Unique Community was born out of its predecessor, an organisation established by Natalia Nikolaeva, our current CEO, to support migrants arriving from ex-Soviet states in the UK. Finding refuge in a new place can be administratively complicated and lonely. Our mission was to lighten the load for people. In 2018, when the organisation was reimagined to primarily deliver performing arts-based work, the best legacy of the past decades was that the children of all the people we supported were now able to access our services. A vibrant milieu of voices from Eastern Europe is always present in our sessions, along with individuals from other migrant backgrounds—I suppose there is some solidarity in the experience of leaving the place you call home for a different life, whether by choice or not. We thought that would be where the legacy of that work ended.
Still Here rehearsal, 2025
In 2022, we were approached by Harrow Council to support people arriving from Ukraine due to the war. We knew this would not be linear work, but we took it on because we felt we had the capacity to ease at least some of the pain. Thus, the Stork Project was born. Starting off as a coffee morning, similar to something we would have delivered all those years ago, it quickly became clear that people needed a concrete activity and goal. We offered the concept of doing theatre—and somehow they agreed. The first show, We’re Alive, was performed at the Drayton Arms Theatre and Harrow Arts Theatre as part of the Boiler House Festival in 2023, followed by another musical, Still Here, performed at the Wandsworth Arts Fringe in 2024 and the Camden Fringe in 2025. This show also featured migrants from Iran. Turns out there are similarities in all our experiences.
Still Here, Camden Fringe 2025 at Bridewell Theatre
The Stork Project is entering its fourth year, with three members of the theatre company now serving as paid Unique Community Associate Artists. How exciting! Mother Tongue is a new program funded by Harrow Giving that explores the complexities of language through theatre. This project involves collecting oral histories from people who arrived in Harrow from the wider Eastern European community and developing a brand new musical to document and dissect this experience.
Mother Tongue workshop, Harrow 2025
Language is complicated. It is a means of communication, sure, but it can also be a source of oppression or shame—depending on which side one is on. Our Associate Artists know this better than anyone. In 2026, we will be giving them a stage from which they can process this—ironically, primarily in English. The language most foreign to some of us working on this project.
Mother Tongue workshop, Wembley October 2025
In addition to this, we are delivering a series of workshops for Mother Tongue across North West London with individuals from all migrant backgrounds as part of the wider Stork Project funded by The Mercers Company. This is the beginning of a long research journey, and we are under no illusion that we will yield any sort of conclusion anytime soon. If anything, we expect to find more questions than answers.
Mother Tongue workshop, Wembley October 2025
What we would love, however, is to hear from you, dear reader.
What does language mean to you?
Have you ever lost it? How did that feel?
We would like to speak to anyone and everyone.
Get in touch. Let’s have a coffee. Let’s chat about language.
Keep an eye on updates about our journey.
Nataliya
Mother Tongue workshop, Harrow 2025
Photo credit:
Niaz Maleknia - Mother Tongue Harrow workshops
Alex Ivanov - Still Here
Hamed Vojoudzadeh - Mother Tongue Wembley workshops
