A Performance of Women's Stories, in Their Own Words

By Jessica Southgate, Policy Manager at Agenda

On a blustery March evening, an audience gathered around a group of women in front of a series of flickering lights, warming their hands against the imagined warmth. “If you were a light, what kind of light would you be?”, they asked.

The piece was All The Lights Are On, a unique collaboration between two theatre companies: Cardboard Citizens, which illuminates the lives of homeless people, and Clean Break, which highlights the experiences of women in the criminal justice system.

Over the preceding nine days, 13 women had come together to devise a performance based on their lived experience of these issues. I was one of those privileged enough to see the results of their work.

In a promenade performance around the purpose built studio and office spaces of Clean Break, the women led audience members through a series of multi-media scenes and vignettes.

The performance roamed freely around the building, exploring unseen nooks and crannies, giving the audience insights into slices of their stories and experiences.

Director Paula Varjack deliberately explored the space in this way, to reflect on the importance of women-only space, and the tenuous relationship many of the women in both companies have had with a space to call their own.

By bringing together this group of women in this way, the piece wove together a set of voices and experiences which are not seen or heard from enough.

Too often women’s voices are silenced or marginalised, or their stories are told by others, and not always fairly. We so rarely have access to the truth of women’s experiences, told on their own terms.

Which is why we at Agenda were so pleased to be able to support this women-led project through our #ThisIsMyStory campaign.

#ThisIsMyStory highlights women’s voices, inviting women to tell their stories in their own words. It was created to raise public awareness of women’s experiences of issues like abuse, poor mental health, addiction, poverty and homelessness; bringing these perspectives to a wider audience, through traditional and social media. Since we launched the campaign nearly two years ago women’s stories have reached thousands on social media and many more through news articles and interviews.

With its emphasis on putting women’s voices front and centre, All The Lights Are On was a perfect fit for our campaign. Also, by weaving together a number of different perspectives, it reminds us why it is so important to address the challenges that women face intersectionally – taking account of the various ways problems can overlap and reinforce one another.

In this performance, themes included education, mental health and housing – issues consistently raised by the women we speak to in our work. These themes fell within an overarching narrative of a broken system where women fail to get the support they need, when they most need it. This is something that we campaign to change and #ThisisMyStory can help highlight.

Now the show is over – the two companies will be releasing a series of short films featuring the women who performed, emphasising their voices and stories, which Agenda will share under #ThisisMyStory.

Through this, we hope they will reach wider audiences beyond those who were part of the live performance.