Cornwall theatre company awarded nearly £20,000

A theatre company working in Cornwall has been awarded almost £20,000 to tell under-represented stories of women’s experiences of menopause.

Members of Scary Little Girls said they had been awarded the money to help them tell new stories through their show Queenagers.

The show had already had two sell-out tours in the county, the company said.

Bosses added that they had been awarded £18,601 from the National Lottery Community Fund to work with women’s groups in Penzance to collect stories of their experiences of menopause.

The show celebrates the older women and looks at the positive side of menopause.

Artistic director Rebecca Mordan said: “We’re now looking at how to make that just a single show, how can we make that a representation of lots of different women’s experiences of menopause and that’s what this work in Penzance will do.

“It will look at more outsider voices, women that are survivors of domestic violence, and women from very working class, possibly even economically very challenged backgrounds.

“We want to make sure we’re expanding that dialogue.”

The Queenagers in Penzance project would be working in partnership with Women’s Aid Penzance, Trelya and Voices from the Deep, bosses said.

It would work with women from these groups to talk about menopause through a series of workshops, where they could share in whatever way they felt comfortable and could include recording a story, a performance delivered by themselves or others or sharing anonymously.

The workshops were initially due to take place over 10 weeks, and then a further five weeks to develop the final piece of work, the group said.