W&T have shown that laughter really can be the best medicine as its Community Comedy Club wins the Big Ideas Bonanza.

The Big Idea Bonanza – a campaign seeking ideas to improve the health of residents in Birmingham and Solihull – has announced Women & Theatre’s ‘Community Comedy Club’ as the winner of its inaugural award.

W&T’s Community Comedy Club was developed in 2010/11 in partnership with Stanhope Hall Community Centre. It consisted of 4 community comedy courses each culminating in a Comedy Night, where community participants performed their own material alongside a professional headline act  and host Mrs. Barbara Nice, the well loved comedy alter ego of W&T’s Artistic Director Janice Connolly. The courses were very successful with participants reporting raised self esteem and confidence and Comedy Events attracting large audiences and fantastic feedback.

The Big Idea Bonanza prize includes a package of support from The Young Foundation to develop the project further and maximise its potential to:

• Tackle low level mental health issues such as anxiety and depression
• Remove barriers of isolation and loneliness
• Develop new approaches in mental health
• Encourage social inclusion in health, education and the wider community
• Raise confidence and self-esteem
• Provide new opportunities for genuine social engagement

Eleanor Cappell, Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Birmingham and Solihull NHS Cluster, who managed and ran the Big Ideas Bonanza said  “I and my colleagues at the Young Foundation look forward to working with the ‘Women & Theatre’ team over the coming months developing their ventures sustainability, scalability and impact measurement tools.”

Our Community Comedy Club has been incredibly successful, making a huge impact on individuals’ lives and uniting the Highgate community. We are thrilled to have won this award and have the opportunity to work with The Young Foundation to explore sustainable ways of developing the project, ensuring the benefits of laughter can reach more people in a range of contexts.

Free Comedy Course with Mrs Barbara Nice

• Create your own stand-up comedy routine
• Develop your skills on the microphone
• Build your confidence
• Make your voice heard
• Have a laugh with new mates!

Come and join popular local comedian Mrs Barbara Nice, a stand-up comedy star with TV credits including Phoenix Nights and Coronation Street, on a comedy course that will make stand up comics out of total beginners.  You also get the chance to perform at a Community Comedy Evening at the end.  There are only 15 places, so book now!

Course held on Wednesday Evenings, 7pm – 9pm

From 2^nd March – 30^th March 2011

At Stanhope Hall Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, B12 0XG

Free for all 16+ living in or around Highgate

For more information or to join the course call Pippa at Women & Theatre on 0121 449 7117 or email pippafrith@womenandtheatre.co.uk

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.

W&T are working in partnership with Birmingham LGBT Community Trust to create Gay Birmingham Back to Back, an exciting new LGBT history project, about the lives of four real life historical people from Birmingham. The project will research the lives of four LGBT people from Birmingham’s past. Researching as far back as the 1850s up until the 1970s the project will look at the social, political and personal circumstances of LGBT people in these time periods. W&T will then develop this research into theatrical performances which will take place at the Back to Back Houses on Hurst Street as part of the 2011 SHOUT Festival.

Birmingham LGBT Community Trust are currently seeking volunteers to help gather the research, and if you are interested in volunteering please contact hiddenlives@blgbt.org.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Wednesday 8th December 2010 at 7.30pm
Stanhope Hall Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, B12 0XG

Free for all ages, curry and refreshments included!

After the success of the Stanhope Women’s Comedy Night and the Stanhope Young People’s Comedy Night, the men are at it too!

This special comedy evening features stand-up from a group of Highgate men who have been taking part in a comedy course with Barbara Nice (of Coronation Street and Phoenix Nights fame).

Come and join us for a night of laughter and fun – Featuring new local acts and the hilarious Steve Day to round it all off!

‘A great night-well worth it!’
‘This was a good, fun packed evening. It should happen again. The food was good too!’

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.

The Palace of Wasted Dreams is the culmination of a two-year project called Wasted, a new participatory musical theatre project exploring and giving voice to women’s relationship with alcohol. Non-drinkers very welcome! The Palace of Wasted Dreams will take place at the Mac in spring 2011.

How can you get involved?
We are recruiting volunteer performers who will learn and perform new songs, be part of scenes, and work alongside professional actors to make up the cast of The Palace of Wasted Dreams. That means if you like singing or acting or both this would be a great project for you – everyone is welcome (16+) no experience necessary!

We’d also like help in other aspects – costume, set building, spreading the word and helping coordinate. So if you don’t fancy being on stage – but you do want to get involved in other aspects do get in touch.

Dates for the Diary

Development Weekend – Saturday 6th November and Sunday 7th November 2010, @ mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 11am – 4pm
To find out if this is for you come along and learn more about the project. During the weekend we’ll be sharing scenes already developed, learning some of the songs and finding out more about the project. By the end of the weekend we’ll be looking for people to sign up to be part of the cast. Please dress in comfortable clothing.
THIS IS NOT AN AUDITION – there’s no criteria to be part of the project.

Rehearsals:
If you do want to be part of the project then it’s important you’re able to commit to the rehearsal and performance dates below.

Week One
Wednesday 19th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Thursday 20th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm

Week Two
Wednesday 26th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Thursday 27th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Saturday 29th January – 11.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday 30th January – 11.00am – 4.00pm

Week Three
Tuesday 1st February – 6.30pm onwards for tech rehearsals
Wednesday 2nd February – 6.30pm onwards for dress rehearsal

Performances Dates:
3rd, 4th, 5th February and 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th February

What Next?
Let us know you’re coming to the Development Weekend – and we’ll look forward to meeting you properly then and sharing The Palace of Wasted Dreams with you! Please contact Bianca Prentice on 0121 440 4203 or email biancaprentice@womenandtheatre.co.uk with queries or to let us know you’re coming on the Development Weekend.

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.

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

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.

Scoffing: Available for touring in Summer 2009
Theme: Obesity – causes and diagnosis
Target audience: Weight management professionals, GPs, those diagnosed as clinically obese
Powerful and moving, Scoffing is a one-woman show full of music and images which resonates with people of all ages, shapes and sizes about eating, body image and self-confidence, exploring the complex factors which affect obesity and weight management.

We are holding a sharing of Scoffing on Wednesday 13th May 2009 at 3pm at The Friends Institute, Highgate. Please let us know if you would like to attend

Step by Step with May & June: Available for touring 29th June – 10th July 2009
Theme: Healthy Eating and Healthy Lifestyles
Target Audience: General community, Schools (Year 6, Secondary & parents’ groups)
Larger than life characters May & June tackle healthy eating in this interactive performance.  A great way to get people thinking and talking about the big question: why don’t we eat healthily when we know we should?

Bare Drama: Available for touring in Autumn 2009
Theme: Gang Prevention
Target Audience: Schools (Years 7 and 8 )
An exciting new play about how gangs form and gang prevention.   The programme encompasses a play and workshop where pupils have the chance to engage in-depth with the issues raised.

The Learning Curve: Available for touring in October 2009
Theme: Breast Health and Breast Awareness
Target Audience: Community Health Promotion, Health Professionals’ Training, Schools (Year 9 and up, Colleges)
This audience favourite is back for Breast Awareness Month 2009.  Covering a range of issues from body image to breastfeeding and screening, the play is ideal for health awareness and promotion.

If you have a burning issue you think we could help with, we are also available for new commissions and projects.  Each year we work with a range of partners to produce new pieces of theatre about issues that are important to them; recent partners include Leicester YMCA, Action for Inclusion, Scope, RoC Drama, Walsall tPCT, and Walsall Community Arts.

Downloads:
Health & Community Programme for 0910
Education Programme for 0910