They have performed everywhere from bingo halls to doctors’ surgeries in a bid to bring theatre to the people.

They’ve tackled topics as wide ranging as homelessness, domestic violence, drug use and road safety.

They’ve played to more than 150,000 people and employed more than 300 artists over the years, and given people like comedian Shazia Mirza their first job.

Now Women & Theatre is celebrating 30 years of innovative productions.

The company, based in Moseley, Birmingham, began in 1983 when nine women attended a course of drama workshops called Women & Theatre.

Four of them – Janice Connolly, Polly Wright, Jo Broadwood and Sue Learwood – decided to continue the work on a full-time basis and form a women’s theatre company.

In the case of Janice, a teacher turned comedy actress from Kings Heath, she gave up a well-paid job with Barnardo’s working with excluded children to devote her time to the new Women & Theatre company.

The four founders worked together to research, write and produce new theatre relevant to the experiences of women. Women & Theatre became a limited company in 1986 and a registered charity a year later.

Step by Step with dinner ladies May and June, examined the role of healthy eating.
Step by Step with dinner ladies May and June, examined the role of healthy eating.

They have remained mainly self-financing for 30 years, through fund-raising and directly earned income, getting commissioned by NHS Trusts and local authorities to put on work and help with training.

For a decade they received an annual grant of £15,000 from Birmingham City Council, amounting to five per cent of the company’s turnover, but this finished in 2011.

They’ve received no Arts Council revenue funding, although a National Lottery grant paid for two vans and equipment.

The company aims to create engaging and humorous drama to promote the spiritual, social, physical and mental well-being of the whole community and to give voices to those not usually heard.

The issues they have tackled, through plays, workshops and courses, include post-natal depression, male cancers, breast health awareness, learning disabilities, alcohol and diabetes.

They have dressed as comedy dinner ladies to convey a healthy eating message and staged a play in the Back to Back houses about the experiences of gay people.

Comedy With Care involves comedy courses in residential homes for older people including those with dementia.

The Chocolate Soldiers will see Women & Theatre work with Birmingham Hippodrome and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum in a project exploring the experiences of young recruits during the First World War.

A partner piece to The Cervical Monologues, Talking Balls, explored prostate and testicular cancer.
A partner piece to The Cervical Monologues, Talking Balls, explored prostate and testicular cancer.

Opposite the Hippodrome’s Thorp Street entrance is an old drill hall site, where members of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment battalions trained. Women & Theatre wants to bring together a group of 16 to 25-year-old men to share the experiences of recruits through live performances around the drill hall site.

The company is also behind the Laughing for a Change comedy courses, run at Birmingham Rep as part of the Time to Change project on mental health. It uses comedy to get people talking about mental health in a bid to reduce discrimination and stigma.

It culminates in a Community Comedy Night at the theatre on November 3, featuring 14 fledgling comedians, headliner Joe Lycett from Hall Green and compere Mrs Barbara Nice.

It’s part of the Rep’s Bedlam Festival of Mad Ideas.

Barbara Nice is the alter ego of Janice Connolly, the only one of the four co-founders to remain with Women & Theatre. In 1995 she became its artistic director.

Janice has also appeared on TV in Phoenix Nights, Dead Man Weds and Coronation Street and is about to take to the main stage at Birmingham Rep for the first time in Tartuffe. Mum-of-two Janice says: “Over the coming 12 months we will continue to create theatre and comedy that reflects people’s lives.

“During our 30th year we will shout about, and celebrate, how far we’ve come while we plan for our next 30 years.

“We are so busy beavering away doing good work but now and again it’s good to sing about what we do – like most Brummies, that’s not in our nature, but the anniversary gives us a chance to celebrate our achievements.

“Back in 1983, nine of us did an evening course called Women & Theatre – we never came up with a better name! – and then set up our own company.

“Four of us decided to give up our jobs and commit to it full time. I was working for Barnado’s on a very good salary that I’ve never really matched since! I had a variety of jobs, like home teaching to make ends meet.

Gay Birmingham: Back to Backs focused on homosexuality in1850s, 1900s, 1940s and 1970s Birmingham.
Gay Birmingham: Back to Backs focused on homosexuality in1850s, 1900s, 1940s and 1970s Birmingham.

“We have always been a co-operative in that we all do everything, writing and planning together. We got a couple of vans and a company manager and developed from there. Although we do feel a bit like we’re going backwards at the moment, because of the financial pressure on the arts.

“Fortunately larger companies like the Rep and the Hippodrome are reaching out to independent companies and helping us. It feels like the arts community in Birmingham is really working together now. We now have three full-time employees and take people on on a freelance basis.

“It’s satisfying when we give people their first jobs and they go on to be a success, like comedian Shazia Mirza.

“It’s all about people wanting us to do the work. We did lots of work in the 1980s in schools around HIV. At the moment we’re involved in the Time To Change project, getting people to talk about mental health. I’ve been teaching comedy courses and putting on performances around mental health issues, and we’ll be doing a big nationwide tour of our Laughing for a Change material after the comedy night at Birmingham Rep. We are getting involved with young people in care, as there’s a lot of untapped talent there.’’

* For tickets to the Community Comedy Night, ring 0121 236 4455 or go to www.birmingham-rep.co.uk. To donate £3 to Women & Theatre, a pound for every decade they’ve been going, text WOMT30 £3 to 70070.

Un Kahi (Unspoken), a 2005 drama on domestic violence and post natal depression.
Un Kahi (Unspoken), a 2005 drama on domestic violence and post natal depression.