Mid Life

Three women in jeans, leather jackets and sunglasses, walk down an alleyway towards the camera with 'attitude'.

LISTEN TO AUDIO PROGRAMME         WATCH BSL FLYER 

 

Mid Life pauses three fierce women at a moment in time – the Menopause. Their bodies are changing and they have something to say. Mid Life unpacks real-life stories of loss, joy and transformation.
Hold tight. There’s a change coming.

Claire was the south east of England disco dancing champion in 1982. Surely, she can’t be menopausal.

Jacqui’s busy looking after the grandkids and keeping an eye on her ex-partner’s mum but there’s some stuff she needs to get off her chest.

Karen lives alone by the sea. She’s a survivor.

They are the midlife women – the unpaid carers, the up-all-nighters, the emotional load bearers, the shoulders to cry on, the school-runners and the piece-picker-upers. Join them as they unpack their lives hoping to find a way through the loss, mess, despair, frustration, freedom, joy and possibility of the middle years.

Three women in jeans and leather jackets, wearing sunglasses. They look cool. They pose to the camera leaning against a brick wall, with attitude.

“There is no greater power in the world
than the zest of a postmenopausal woman.”

Margaret Mead

The Story

Mid Life pauses three women in a moment in time. Three women whose bodies are changing and who feel they have something to say. Three women, at the midpoint, deciding how to think and feel about what came before, what to take with them as they move forward and what to leave behind. They voice their fears – of children leaving, of relationships ending, of parents dying, of their own mortality – and try to accommodate their losses. They get down into the muck and talk about sex, desire, rage, and flooding.

See the show

Ferment Fortnight

Work in progress showing at Bristol Old Vic: Thursday 11th July at 8pm and Saturday 13th July at 8pm. Run time is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes. Audio Described and BSL interpreted. More information and tickets on the Bristol Old Vic website.

High Tide Festival

Work in progress showing at Church Hall: Thursday 12th September 2019. Audio Described and BSL interpreted. More information on the High Tide Festival website.

Access

Diverse City is committed to making the performing arts accessible to all. Mid Life shows will be Audio Described and BSL interpreted. You can find more information about the venues’ accessibility on Bristol Old Vic‘s website for Ferment Fortnight dates and on High Tide festival’s website.

Access logos: Sign language, R, AD and wheelchair user symbols in blakc and white

The Mid Life Creative Team

Lucy Richardson, Director
Sheila Chapman, Writer
Isabel de Salis, Consultant
Jacqui Beckford, Actor
Claire Hodgson, Actor
Karen Spicer, Actor
Vicki Igbokwe, Choreographer and Movement Director
Tina Omotosho, Assistant Choreographer and Movement Assistant

We are looking for Co-Producing partners

Mid Life is ready for Co-Producing partners to support the development and premiere of this new show, available from early 2020.

We are looking for venues to tour

The show will be for small scale studio spaces and non-theatre spaces with black out facilities from early 2020. Suitable for all audiences, recommended for 14+ years, targeted particularly to women, their families and friends, partners and colleagues.

Download the Mid Life Promoter’s Pack here.

Contact Claire Hodgson for more details about how to book: Claire@diversecity.org.uk

Portrait of Claire - white female, 50, short blonde hair. Rocking red-framed sunglasses and large gold hoops. She oozes attitude.
Portrait of Jacqui, black female, 50, her long braids twisted up in a loose knot-bun atop her head. Her sunglasses propped on her forehead. She looks unimpressed, with eyebrows raised.
Portrait of Karen, white female, 50-something, short curly grey hair. She's rocking her black leather jacket and yellow-rimmed sunglasses. She oozes attitude.
Three women in jeans and leather jackets, wearing shade and joking to the camera about midlife.
Three women in jeans and leather jackets, wearing sunglasses leaning against a brick wall. They all gesture the female body by holding their hands in a triangle over their crotch. Their expression's unimpressed - they look like they have something to say about it.
Three women in jeans and leather jackets, wearing sunglasses. Jacqui points to Karen, who's gesturing the female body by holding her hands in a diamond shape over her crotch. Claire laughs on.
4 women in a room, facing each other in pairs with expressions of surprise and smiles on their faces
Sheila, the show Writer, sitting down with a smile on her face and a notepad in her hands, listening to someone speaking. She has red short hair.
3 women in discussion in a living room, Claire Hodgson the show creator with her hands joined in support of what she is expressing while the other two are laughing
Photography credits: © Alexa Ledecky