Highgate Community Comedy Evening on Thursday 28th October

Local Young People from Highgate performing their own stand-up comedy
Hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice
Thursday 28th October at 6.30pm
At Stanhope Hall Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, B12 0XG

Free, for all ages, curry and refreshments included

Have a laugh at this great local night out! This special comedy evening features stand-up from a group of Highgate young people who have been taking part in a comedy course with Mrs Barbara Nice (of Coronation Street and Phoenix Nights fame. Come and support them as they share their newfound skills alongside host Barbara Nice and headline act Joe Lycett, winner of Chortle’s Best Newcomer Award 2010.

Just check out some of the feedback for our last comedy evening:
“Very wicked! Loved it and would like to see more of it!”
“I had a ball- tonight was brilliant!”

Please find a map below; Stanhope Hall is on the corner of Emily Street and Ketley Croft:

View Larger Map

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

Posted: October 26, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Barbara Nice & Gals at mac on 3rd October – SOLD OUT!

Barbara Nice & Gals
Sunday 3rd October at 7pm
at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham

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. All proceeds go to support our new project, Wasted.

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)
Isma Almas is a promising newcomer with incisive, “fantastic material. She left everyone in her slipstream” (Chortle).
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.
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.

Tickets are £12 (£9 concession), available from mac on 0121 446 3232 or online at www.macarts.co.uk

Posted: September 21, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Wasted: Second Summer School starting on Monday 23rd August

The second of our two Wasted summer schools is fast approaching, so book now! The first was a great success, just check out some of the lovely feedback:

An excellent course, that I will never forget.

Brilliant. A truly exhilarating experience. Challenging but highly supportive. Wonderful workshop leaders who were genuinely passionate about the subject matter…shame it has to end!

I am delighted in what we’ve all achieved and the journeys we’ve been on. I have been personally challenged and have loved being in a creative learning environment with fabulous girls. I love the power of theatre, making people laugh and cry. Touching lives.

This course has really enabled me to be myself and voice my opinions to a group of wonderful adults, but still feel like an equal and as though I am respected for being me.

Our exciting new project, Wasted will be an interactive, experiential new piece of participatory musical theatre, which explores and gives voice to women’s changing and complex relationship with alcohol.

During the 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 week will be led by core Women & Theatre member Janice Connolly.

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

Mon 23 – Fri 27 Aug
10am-4pm in the lovely new Foyle Studio at mac
Fee: £50 (£40 conc)
Please note that this course is for women only, age 16 plus

To book call mac on 0121 446 3232 or visit

Wasted is being produced in association with mac, and will be performed in February 2011.

Posted: August 13, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Waitrose and Twitter: what we’re up to at the moment!

Shop at Waitrose in Hall Green this month and support Women & Theatre!
Women & Theatre has been chosen for Waitrose’s ‘Community Matters’ initiative in August! The scheme allocates £1,000 a month to each of Waitrose’s 190 branches to distribute amongst three local community projects. Shoppers then get to help decide how the sum is divided amongst the three selected organisations. They will be given a token at the checkout, which they can place in one of three boxes at the store exit, each allocated to a different cause. The amount a cause receives is directly proportional to the number of tokens they receive from customers.

So here’s an excuse to shop at Waitrose over the summer – you’ll be helping us out!

Women & Theatre on Twitter
Yes, we have given in. We’ve joined the world of Twitter, and will be posting tweets from now on. Follow us to hear what we’re up to, especially on our exciting new project, Wasted, in nice bite-size bits of 140 characters!

Posted: August 5, 2010 in Announcements, news
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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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