Stanhope Community Comedy Club – Wednesday 7th July 2010, 6.30pm

Hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice
Wednesday 7th July at 6.30pm
At Stanhope Hall Community Centre
Curry and refreshments served
Free, for Age 16+

Have a laugh at this great local night out! This special comedy evening features stand-up from a group of Highgate women who have been taking part in a comedy course with Mrs Barbara Nice. Come and support them as they share their newfound skills along with professional comedians!

Annette Fagon is a loud comedy newcomer, making fast progress on the UK comedy circuit by talking about everything from hoodies and mobile phone habits to Beyonce’s mental state.
Best Newcomer at the 2006 BECA Awards and Midlands Stand Up Runner up 2007.
”With this sort of retro observational comedy, she’s just like Peter Kay would be – well, if he were female, black and from Leicester” Chortle

Barbara Nice: is everyone’s favourite Kings Heath housewife and mother of five, with a comedy style described as a hybrid between Mrs Merton and Victoria Wood. She is the comedy creation of Women & Theatre’s Artistic Director Janice Connolly. Janice has also been seen on TV in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, Max & Paddy, Thin Ice and Coronation Street.
“As hilarious as it is possible to get” The Scotsman, ***** The Independent

This project has been funded through the Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust’s Mental Health Grants Programme 2009-10 and suported by the Digbeth Trust.


View Larger Map“>Map to Stanhope Hall

Posted: July 2, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Wasted Summer Schools at mac – book now!

Wasted logo
Women & Theatre are holding two Summer Schools at mac in July and August, which are two fantastic chances to get involved with our exciting new project, Wasted. Wasted will be an interactive, experiential new piece of participatory musical theatre, which explores and gives voice to women’s relationship with alcohol. Wasted is being produced in association with mac, and will be performed in February 2011.

Whether it’s teenage girls binge drinking illicitly, women in their 20s and 30s drinking as part of their busy social lives and careers, or older women drinking more at home, alcohol has become a greater part of women’s lives over the past half century. (Drinkaware)

During each week-long inter-generational summer school, we will work with community participants, creating material that will inform the final performance. The group will respond to some of our research material about women & alcohol, contribute ideas, explore their own stories and devise drama scenes and characters. Together, we will create scenes, informal theatre moments and short films to present in and around mac. There will also be opportunities to stay involved with Wasted and perhaps contribute to the final production!

The workshop weeks will be led by core Women & Theatre members Janice Connolly and Terina Talbot.

Book now to reserve your place. Non drinkers very welcome!

Mon 26 – Fri 30 Jul
Mon 23 – Fri 27 Aug
10am-4pm in the lovely new Foyle Studio at mac
Fee: £50 (£40 conc) a week
Please note that this course is for women only. We welcome all ages from 16 plus

To book call mac on 0121 446 3232 or mac’s website

Posted: June 18, 2010 in Announcements, Uncategorized, news
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Flagship new project: Wasted!

Wasted
Women & Theatre launched into Spring with the fantastic news that we have been granted funds from the Arts Council, UK, to develop our exciting new project, Wasted.

Wasted is a multi-stranded project which explores and gives voice to women’s relationship with alcohol. The final product will be a piece of interactive musical theatre, produced in association with mac (Midlands Arts Centre), performed in February 2011. As in all of W&T’s work, the entertaining format will convey a serious message, acting as a stimulus for participants and audiences to examine their own drinking behaviour and make positive changes.

Over the next months we will be carrying out community research, workshops, summer schools, online activity, and recruiting community performers. We’ll also be speaking to health professionals about using aspects of Wasted for health promotion. If you’d like to find out more, please do get in touch with us.

Posted: June 14, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Another W&T comedy night on 3rd October 2010!

Save the date folks, Women & Theatre are holding another of our popular comedy fundraising nights on Sunday 3rd October 2010! This time we’re holding it at the lovely refurbished mac. Tickets will be available a little closer to the time from mac’s website.

Women & Theatre invite you to join us for a comic feast hosted by everyone’s favourite Kings Heath housewife and mother of five, Mrs Barbara Nice. She presents a friendly and hilarious night of laughter from a high quality pick and mix of the nation’s funniest women:

Susan Calman has proved herself a force to be reckoned with from her first gig in Glasgow in 2005 to rave reviews in Edinburgh. “A wee lassie with a big future” (The List)

Francesca Martinez, one of The Observer’s 50 funniest acts in British comedy, “may be wobbly, but never the jokes” (The Stage)

Shazia Mirza’s distinctive deadpan observational comedy provides a unique perspective of life as a British Muslim stand up. “Outrageous… Shazia can find humour in anything” (Trends)

All-female sketch group Lady Garden are “One of the funniest, clever and sexy new sketch groups around” (Time Out) with their rapier-sharp wit.

Ava Vidal is a cool and composed who has risen quickly through comedy’s ranks, and was the only female finalist in the BBC 3 New Comedy Awards. “a biting, brutal wit… a force to be reckoned with” Chortle.co.uk

Barbara Nice, described as “a hybrid between Mrs Merton and Victoria Wood (The Times), Barbara Nice “doesn’t just blur the gap between audience and performer, she obliterates it” (Edinburgh Evening News)

All proceeds go to Women & Theatre (B’ham) Ltd. Registered in England & Wales No. 1998448; Registered Charity No. 518580

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Welcome to Sarah-Jane, General Manager (Maternity Cover)!

This week Women & Theatre welcome new staff member, but old friend of the company, Sarah-Jane Watkinson. Sarah-Jane joins us as General Manager, to take care of the company while Jess is away on Maternity Leave. She will be heading up a number of the exciting projects we have in the pipeline for 2010, including Wasted, an interactive musical theatre production which gives voice to the relationship between women and alcohol.

Meanwhile we all wish Jess well with her exciting new “production”, and she will be back with Women & Theatre in February 2011.

Posted: March 5, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Cervical Monologues on tour in Dudley, March 2010

W&T have been commissioned by Dudley PCT to take perennial favourite, The Cervical Monologues to Dudley this Spring.

Regular cervical screening is essential for all women, yet there is a low rate of take-up of screening services in the Black Country. By demystifying the screening process and encouraging women to talk about their feelings, The Cervical Monologues aims to ensure that women are informed about their own health needs and empowered to take up screening appointments.

With the support of Dudley PCT, Women & Theatre’s Janice Connolly and Melisa Harrison have performed additional research with GPs and community groups to explore issues around the take-up of cervical screening services. From the research, Janice will write four new monologues to incorporate into the existing script, and increase the local relevance and impact of the piece. With these new voices that really reflect the local opinions in Dudley, the tour will aim to spark discussions about overcoming real and perceived barriers to accessing cervical screening services for Dudley’s diverse communities.

This is a great example of how W&T’s flexible and in-depth scripts can be used and adapted within local contexts. If you’re interested in a similar project, whether with Cervical Monologues or any of our other plays, please do drop us a line.

Thursday 4th March, 12.45pm @ St Thomas’s Network, Beechwood Road, DY2 7AQ
Friday 5th March, 12.45pm @ Lye Community Centre, Cross Walks Road, DY9 8BH
Wednesday 10th March, 12.45pm @ St James Medical Practice, Malthouse Drive, DY1 2BY
Everyone living in Dudley is welcome, but please book for groups of 5 or more on 0121 440 4203.

Posted: January 21, 2010 in Announcements, Community, Health, news
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The Creative & Media Diploma

Spring term sees W&T develop and deliver a new programme of work with Bishop Challoner Catholic College, forming part of the Level 3 Creative & Media Diploma curriculum.
Fulfilling the ‘Commission’ unit, W&T will set students a creative brief requiring them to develop their own drama-based alcohol awareness programme targeting young people. We will then work with students and share Women & Theatre’s trademark style and approaches to develop and pilot an effective interactive programme that is rooted in research and the stories of real people.

For details of this project or other ways that W&T can support the delivery of the Creative & Media Diploma, please contact us

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Tuned In: Young People’s project for Spring 2010

Tuned In is an exciting new radio drama project, made possible with funding from Birmigham City Council’s Creative Futures. We will be working with young people from two schools in Birmingham – a group of year 9 students from St Alban’s school (in Highgate) and the whole of Priestley Smith school for the visually impaired (in Perry Barr).

The idea is to create a collection of 6 short radio plays – three from each school – which will be written and rehearsed by the young people from their own thoughts and ideas under the guidance of experienced writer Steph Dale, radio director Jenny Stephens and W&T’s associate director Terina Talbot. Once the play scripts have been written they will be ‘swapped’ with the other school and rehearsed in readiness for recorded performance at the BBC studios in The Mailbox. The young people will have opportunities to meet and work together and the project will culminate in a celebratory event which will include a recorded performance of each of the plays. We have already had an ‘ inspiration day’ with all staff, students and artists involved in the project – this was held at the Botanical Gardens and was a wonderful day!

We look forward to beginning work with students and getting the script work going …. watch this space … and stay ‘tuned in’ for more!!

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New training commissioned by Walsall Manor Hospital

Paper-lite
Women & Theatre have been commissioned by Walsall Manor Hospital to create a piece of training around paper-light office systems. The Manor are in the process of introducing an electronic document and records management system which will radically reduce the amount of paper records that they keep. Women & Theatre are delivering training to raise awareness of the changes and support the implementation of the new system.

Our theatre based training will use drama, humour, interaction and discussion to explore and demystify the complex issue of organisational change. As usual, we have started the process by talking to the people in question, the hospital staff who will be affected. Terina and Janice from W&T have interviewed everyone from Consultant Radiologists to Theatre Managers, Matrons and Secretaries. Their feelings and responses are all feeding into the writing and devising process, in some cases used as the basis for short sections of drama to spark discussions with training participants. Sessions will be delivered hospital-wide in December.

The training was commissioned after one of the Manor Hospital team attended a recent Equality & Diversity Training session run by Women & Theatre on behalf of Walsall tPCT. She thought our trademark straightforward, humorous and human approach was just the thing to help communicate system changes to staff. If you have training needs in your organisation that you’d like to discuss with us, we are very happy for you to get in touch. If you’d like to see our training process and methods in action, you can come and observe one of the sessions in December, please contact us if you would like to do this.

Feedback from other Women & Theatre training programmes:
“I found the style of presentation very good. It was inclusive to everyone (understanding and ability) and useful to reflect on in all workplaces”
“Enjoyed what I thought was going to be a boring topic. Very thoughtful.”
“Best course I have ever been on.”

Posted: November 13, 2009 in Announcements, news
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Upcoming sharings of Woman First on 16th November

It you get it right for disabled women
You’ll get it right for all women

We are holding two special sharings of Woman First, a collection of monologues which explore disabled women’s experiences of pregnancy and birth and take a wider look at disability rights. You might find Women First interesting if you are a professional in midwifery services, social care, disability support and advocacy, or if you yourself or someone you know are affected by the issues.

Monday 16th November 2009 at 12pm & 5pm
The Friends Institute, 220 Mosley Road, Birmingham, B12 0DG

If you join us for the lunchtime performance why not join us for a bite to eat and an informal discussion at the Matchbox Cafe – great food at reasonable prices!

Commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing Midwifery for the International Congress of Midwives in Glasgow 2008, the monologues were researched with a range of women and health professionals across the UK.

Woman First was recently performed at Birmingham REP during Birmingham’s Artsfest. The packed audience loved the piece – they were moved, amused and outraged by the stories we told. The strength of their reactions convinced us that the monologues need to have a wider audience and that they are of great value to the community at large as well as the professionals it was originally written for.

We would love to share the piece with you, to discuss your thoughts and reactions to it with the rest of our audience in a post-showing discussion and have your help in identifying possible future audiences so we can maximise the potential of this piece.

If you can’t make this date please let us know if you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of this wonderful project .

Please RSVP to Pippa Frith – pippafrith@womenandtheatre.co.uk or call 0121 440 4203

Posted: November 3, 2009 in Announcements, news
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