'Stand By Your Fan' is a piece of verbatim theatre about the menopause, written and produced in collaboration with Newcastle University and performed by our community cast members to a sell-out audience at The Catalyst on Thursday 13th July 2023.
Thankyou to our amazing community cast who did such an outstanding job - we hope this project is the 'catalyst' for deeper discussion and action on the impact of menopause both in the workplace and across wider society.
Magnolia Walls
Written by JoJo Kirtley with Alice Cree
Directed by Corinne Kilvington
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Assistant Directed by Charlotte Ryder
Actors
Pen: Rachel Brownstein
Roxie: Alexandra Tahnee
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Guardian Reader's Favourite 2022
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This is a story of war and of military life, but not as you’ve seen it before. Meet Roxie and Pen, two
women whose colourful friendship goes beyond magnolia walls.
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Based on research by Newcastle University, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
Performed by professional actors with a filmed community cast of military spouses.
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This collaborative theatre-based research project explores the impacts of military participation and
war on personal relationships and home-life with military partners.
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Workie Ticket Theatre CIC is Tyneside-based and female-led; producing work across the North-East which reflects current social issues. A commitment to creating real positive social impact through theatre is at the very heart of what they do.
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Rachel Brownstein Alexandra Tahnee Corinne Kilvington Charlotte Ryder JoJo Kirtley & Alice Cree
PRESS
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Newcastle University Press Release
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Evening Chronicle Interview with JoJo Kirtley
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The Guardian Readers Favourite 2022
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Her Primal Scream: Womxn Up? Film & Podcast
The Womxn Up? podcast & 'Her Primal Scream' film is Workie Ticket Theatre’s response to the global COVID-19 pandemic which highlights North-East women’s stories through a series of audio plays & real-life interviews and a short film.
Within this project, we explore the impact the pandemic has had on women at home, work, in the community, on our mental health and on our bodies.
Workie Ticket Theatre is proud to present three, brand-new audio response plays all inspired by our research which are written, performed, directed and produced by women from the North East. Also, alongside the podcast is our film 'Her Primal Scream' created in the community with women's organisations and inspired by their voices.
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Womxn Up? has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and our community film was created with funding from Groundworks Comic Relief. The podcasts are presented by Sarah Hughes, produced by Workie Ticket and edited by Studio26. Her Primal Scream was created with Michelle Fix films. Disclaimer: Please be aware that some of the content may be triggering.
Listen to our Womxn Up? Podcast with BONUS episodes on all major podcast platforms including: Spotify, Anchor, Apple, Google Podcast, Castbox and many more! For transcriptions please scroll down below and follow the link under each episode. Or contact workietickettheatre@gmail.com & we will email you all transcripts.
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We are also so proud to announce that our work will be archived in the Feminist Library on 10th September.
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Episode 1: Women in the Time of Corona
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Find out more about the Womxn Up? Project from the producers as Sarah Hughes interviews founder of Workie Ticket Theatre CIC, JoJo Kirtley & Lindsay Nicholson and asks what inspired them to create a project about the impact of the pandemic on North-East Women.
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Presented by Sarah Hughes
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Episode 2: Above My Pay Grade
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Written and Performed by Sarah Hughes
Directed by Corinne Kilvington
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Michelle loves her job helping young people in the care system and prides herself on helping them feel less alone in the World. But, when the Coronavirus crisis enforces periods of isolation, she finds it hard to watch them struggle. So, when she’s invited along to an online workplace “Well-being” Event to talk about her experience working in social care; she pulls no punches.
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Episode 3: The Mothering Kind
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Written by Olivia Hannah
Performed by Rachel Brownstein
Directed by Corinne Kilvington
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Pre-pandemic Chrissy and Pete were happily child-free, spending their time and money on travel and new experiences. All that was swept away by Covid, and in its place came caring responsibilities for their nephew. Now, in the aftermath, Chrissy finds herself changed and looking for a new way to make life meaningful.
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Episode 4: More Hugs for Nana Hinny
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Written by JoJo Kirtley
Performed by Jacqueline Phillips
Directed by Charlotte Ryder
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Nana Hinny loves hugs, singing at her local ‘Singing for the Brain’ group and drinking decent whiskey. She misses her beloved Stan but is content with her life; watching the birds from her bungalow which overlooks Killy Lake…until the global pandemic changes everything and she suddenly finds her voice.
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WOMEN WARRIORS
"Bike, Dyke or Frigid?"
A bold new piece of theatre exploring the untold stories of female veterans
directed by Rosa Stourac McCreery.
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Women Warriors has been devised by engaging female veterans through forum theatre and discussion-based workshops. Our aim is to contribute to their empowerment whilst creating a dialogue about how to support veteran rehabilitation through creative methods. In her ground-breaking work on gender and the military, Cynthia Enloe asked in 1989; “Where are the women?” ‘Women Warriors’ responds by centering the lived experiences of female veterans, women who are often socially isolated, overlooked and suffering from lack of support. Our project aims is to raise awareness of the challenges female veterans face in society such as prejudice, discrimination, abuse and PTSD but also celebrate female veterans. Within a safe space, we have facilitated issue-based and forum theatre workshops to develop a series of short plays with five writers. We presented a rehearsed reading of our piece in July as part of our R&D in the build up to producing the first full production of ‘Women Warriors’ at The Exchange Arts Venue, North Shields on 9th October 2019.
HEAR HER ROAR
Background to Hear Her Roar
The HEAR HER ROAR project highlights Tyneside women’s real stories and raises awareness of women’s issues such as domestic violence, working mothers, abortion, sexual assault and sexuality. HEAR HER ROAR was our first major project, which celebrated the talents of North East women, collaborated with community groups and charities such as Newcastle Women’s Aid and promoted equality within the theatre industry.
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HEAR HER ROAR was successfully launched above the Bridge Hotel Pub in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, on 10th November 2017 as a night of script-in-hand performance of new short plays to give a flavour of our work and to highlight the specific themes. We sold out. We developed a network of creatives and we were featured in The Guardian’s Readers’ Favourite theatre of 2017; “Hear Her Roar had passion, heartache, love and solidarity.”
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In January 2018, we received funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery and the Catherine Cookson Trust, respectfully to deliver our February to September educational programme which included a full-scale theatre performance of our plays for International Women’s Day at The Exchange in North Shields, on 10th March 2018 and was part of celebrating 100 years of Women’s suffrage. Rebecca Gregson in NARC magazine wrote: “It’s clear that Hear Her Roar is an important and unquestionable success.”
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We also collaborated with the Red Box Project to collect sanitary products for local schools and collected for Newcastle Women’s Aid. In total, we have raised over £1300 for Newcastle Women’s Aid.
Workshops for Hear Her Roar
As part of the HEAR HER ROAR project, Workie Ticket are continuing to deliver issue-based workshops in the local community to at-risk groups, which are linked to our plays, in a bid to educate and raise awareness.
Our workshops are two-hour sessions and consist of interactive drama, writing and discussion-based activities to engage groups with the themes of the plays. For example, we have developed a Body Image workshop called “Love Yourself” which was firstly, delivered to a group of women who are survivors of domestic abuse at Newcastle Women’s Aid. Feedback included: “It made me feel empowered", “Being together with other women, made me feel included and safe”, and “I felt like someone was finally listening to me.”
We are also working delivering sessions to Women’s charity, Bright Futures and Launchpad Charity for Mental Health Awareness week.