A COMPANY has partnered with a community group for a female arts project in Oldham, the findings of which will be shared with the public.
In Parallel Productions are working with Inspire Women Oldham to bring an hour-long sharing and Q&A of work inspired by the opinions, views and observations of the community.
It follows a two-week female Research and Development project called ‘You Can Have It All…Can’t You?’
A collection of theatre pieces, using movement and music, will be created with an aim to discover the changing pressures of women in today’s society, in regards to their biological clock and exploring ways to present this in an accessible way.
Stacey Coleman, from In Parallel Productions, told the Independent: “For [co-founder] Suzanne [Fulton] and me, it’s quite personal as it’s a pressure we feel in our industry in particular as self-employed people but also in an industry where your body is your job.
“Any time you take out you have to really consider but we’re also asked the same questions as most people we know – if you’re dating someone, are you getting engaged, if you’re getting engaged, are you getting married, if you’re getting married, are you having kids – which don’t seem to be asked to our male counterparts in the same way.
“We started to look into these aspects and we found more and more. We watched performances on things like the pill and the side effects to all of that. We started to speak to an older generation about the menopause and a lack of understanding in society.
“Some things are a bit less taboo and more spoken about now – there’s been a progression forward with maternity, pregnancy and period poverty for example – but the more we started researching, the more inspired we were and we wanted to get conversations going.”
Inspire Women Oldham are fuelling the piece with their thoughts and opinions on the subject, as well as getting creatively involved in the final piece. Some Zoom workshops have already taken place to begin this process.
There will then be a sharing of what has been created, plus an audience Q&A for feedback, in Oldham Library Theatre on Friday, November 3 at 3pm.
The sharing will be a theatrical piece with an accumulation of text, dance, music and song that looks at challenging the stereotypes around the subject and delves into the depths of topics including thoughts around PMS, having children and the menopause.
The sharing will also be shown online to a wider audience. The feedback will then be used to shape the piece further, with the aim of touring the finalised throughout the UK in 2024/2025.
Stacey added: “We didn’t just want to write a show, we want to play with different things and for it to be fun, entertaining and enjoyable despite us covering heavy subjects.
“Everyone we spoke to, there was something they could relate to. I think it’s important that we all know what everyone is experiencing. We’ve found that once people leave school, there’s no place for education or support so people feel there is nobody to talk to about issues later in life.
“We don’t just want it to be for women to attend because it’s more about educating the people who don’t know and starting different conversations.
“We want people to tell us what they think afterwards, so it’s not just informed by the community but amended by the community too. We feel really passionate about finding a women-led show around women’s experiences and feel there’s a big gap for it.”
Tickets for the event are £5 and can be bought online here:
In Parallel Productions have resubmitted an Arts Council funding bid after the first one was turned down and are also seeking private funding to support their theatre project.
They also have a Crowdfunding page where people can make a donation here:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/you-can-have-it-allcant-you
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