Two artists. One marriage.

Set over a single turbulent morning, this razor-sharp play examines the shifting power dynamics between love and ambition, truth, narrative, art and the people it consumes.

An evening dedicated to the remarkable Lynn Seymour unfolds as a tribute to artistry, influence, and legacy. Ellie Young brings fresh life to Ashton’s Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, danced in the free-spirited manner of Isadora Duncan, where musicality and movement breathe as one. The programme is deepened by a 1980 documentary, rich with intimate moments and candid personal opinions, offering a rare and moving insight into Seymour’s voice, vision and enduring impact on dance.

An accomplished soprano will sing songs by female composers,

as well as, female poets analysed by acclaimed psychoanaylist Kathleen Saxton.

In this modern, western world, is gender inequality really an issue any more?  Are women treated differently to their male counterparts?

In this fun series of sketches we will explore this question via a play combining true stories in domestic, work and family life with a surprise twist.

Emily Corcoran is an established actress, writer and producer of feature films and television.  This will be her first foray into writing and producing for theatre

Staged Reading: A rip in time in the Chapel at The Tower of London brings the two greatest monarchs in history face to face. They must share their past sorrows and joys and free themselves from their “ghosts” in order to embrace life again.

Internationally known and respected as one of the journalistic faces of the BBC, Jane Corbin has covered the world’s major conflicts in over a hundred documentaries. As senior correspondent for Panorama, BBC1’s flagship current affairs programme, she has investigated the key global issues of our times and won many awards.  She has written and presented major documentaries on BBC2 on China and Russia as well as her extensive coverage of the Middle East and Central Asia.

SHE/ HER is a multimedia performance that excavates the individual and collective female experience.

through music, story and movement, a diverse group of women hold space for the personal and Universal. The show is dedicated to the brave women in Iran, who sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.

The show was critically acclaimed but most importantly, it moved audience members to look at their own relationship to self, their Mothers, daughters and Women in general. The show will morph into new Iterations with new stories and music and new performers wherever it will go in the hope of giving voice to 50% of

humanity that has been ignored, pillaged, raped and silenced.

Five extraordinary women, leaders in business, finance and public life, lend their voices to the Women’s Voices Festival in an intimate and revealing evening of storytelling.

Panel discussion with:

• Dame Emma Walmsley (GSK)

• The Baroness Shriti Vadera (Former Labour Minister, Chair of the RSC)

• The Baroness Minouche Shafik (Advisor to Rachel Reeves)

• Allison Kirkby (BT)

• Dame Clara Furse (HSBC)

• With Kamini Banga & Myriam Cyr

Debut of Janie Dee's new piece exploring movement, words and songs connected to the moon. Written and performed by Janie Dee, this new work brings together performance and music in an exploratory performance performed for the first time at Women's Voices: A Celebration festival. 

This is the riveting story of Noor Inayat Khan, a descendant of an Indian prince, Tipu Sultan (the Tiger of Mysore), who became a British secret agent for SOE during World War II.

From the novel, Shrabani Basu tells the moving story of Noor's life, from her birth in Moscow - where her father was a Sufi preacher - to her capture by the Germans. Noor was one of only three women SOE agents awarded the George Cross and, under torture, revealed nothing, not even her real name.

Kept in solitary confinement, her hands and feet chained together, Noor was starved and

beaten, but the Germans could not break her spirit. Ten months after she was captured, she was taken to Dachau concentration camp and, on 13 September 1944, she was shot. Her last word was 'Liberté?

In 1957, Little Rock, Arkansas, became the focus of the Civil Rights movement in the US when a group of African American students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine, attempted to desegregate a white high school.

In one of the most recognised photographs of the 20th century, Elizabeth Eckford is seen, dressed immaculately, trying to enter Central High School, while an angry white girl, Hazel Bryan, shouts racist abuse at her, her face twisted in hate.

Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth became the most famous schoolgirl in the US -- and the impact of that day would have far-reaching consequences for both Elizabeth and her abuser.

LITTLE ROCK follows these two women as, decades later, they form a tentative relationship, which pushes them both back into the spotlight

A Staged reading

New script by Kristen Winters

Why does a victim become a predator? Why, and how, can Ghislaine Maxwell maintain her innocence whilst the world understands more clearly the depths to which she, Epstein, and those around them built - and benefited from - a network of abuse.

Written by RB8 | Directed by PB Whistle

Three women connected by blood, spanning over three generations. One running. One yearning. One with a calling. Each must go on a journey if they are to find peace and resolution within themselves.

To date, a significant number of children in the DRC are used as combatants, transports, spies, chefs or sexual slaves within the armed groups and militias. The LOST Lombi lifts the lid on the recruitment of child soldiers while exploring identity, the generational trauma of war, the necessity of belonging and the importance of forgiveness.

Peter Tate as Picasso

Co-Adapted by Peter Tate and Guy Masterson from the original work by Terry d'Alfonso

Directed by Guy Masterson

AFTER A ED FRINGE RUN WITH 5 & 4 STARS REVIEWS PICASSO: LE MONSTRE SACRE IS BACK ONCE MORE TO THE PLAYGROUND THEATRE

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "marvellous, brilliant, enthralling" British Theatre Guide  

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "an artistic and theatrical masterpiece." Edinburgh Guide 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ UK Theatre Network  

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "Peter Tate is mesmerising in this one man tour de force." One4Review 

★ ★ ★ ★ "burns into your soul both seductive and shocking" North West End  

★ ★ ★ ★  "an absorbing, sharply textured piece." Culture Fix 

★ ★ ★ ★ Quintessential Review  

★ ★ ★ ★ ReviewsHub 

★ ★ ★ ★  The UpComing 

After an incredibly successful debut in March 2025, Women’s Voices: A Celebration returns to The Playground Theatre, produced and curated by Naomi Sorkin and co-produced by Myriam Cyr, Nicole Ansari-Cox and Kamini Banga

Timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, this pioneering female-led festival shines a spotlight on extraordinary women across theatre, music, dance, literature, and the visual arts. With performances, exhibitions, talks, and community workshops, WVAC Fest is a vibrant platform for creativity, connection, and powerful storytelling.

'Revenge is the place the fracturing mind goes when it is trying to stay whole' - Emma C. Eisenberg

When 20-something Honey hears that a boy who attacked her in school is running for Mayor of London, she takes matters into her own hands. Set almost a decade after the incident, Honeytrap is a play about how the past never stops haunting us and how revenge is a dish best served sweet.

A Staged Reading

A new dark comedy. She’s composing. He’s decomposing.

Madame Mozart, the Lacrimosa at the Playground Theatre with Nicole Ansari Cox

Faced with the sudden death of her genius husband, Constanze Mozart’s secretly connives to complete and deliver his final commission, Requiem in D minor, by bamboozling the patriarchy at its own game. In the end, she’s the only one standing, cleverer and braver than everyone else in her story

JoJoin us at the Playground Theatre for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes conversation as part of the Women’s Voices Festival, with Helen Serafinowicz, co-creator of the BBC hits Motherland and Amandaland, and Lisa Forrell, acclaimed theatre director and writer as they come together to discuss the art of comedy writing for television.

Short Film Double Bill - 6pm

Jackie Oudney: Vagabond shoes - Short Film 

Derek Coutts: Roman Fever - Short Film

Feature Screening - 7:30pm

Tina Andrew's: Why do Fools Fall in Love - Feature Film

Concert & Coffee -

Trio Goya bring their acclaimed passion for colour and rhetoric, to three remarkable women composers:

Clara Schuman

Hélène Liebmann

Cecile Chaminade

In Who’d Love Lucy? the titular “crazy girl” recounts heartbreaks that led her to a sticky situation, seeking advice about skeletons in her closet. Who’d love a girl with a hitlist?

A single painting sold for $122 million. In an era where we measure worth in likes, clicks, and net worth, Munch’s The Scream has become the most expensive “emoji” in history. But what happens when the man behind the canvas returns to ask: “Is anyone actually listening?”

SESSIONS imagines Edvard Munch returning from the afterlife—not for a standing ovation, but for a therapy session.

Caught between a legendary past and a digital present, Munch faces a therapist-in-training to confront grief, ambition, and the quiet injuries that fame never heals. As he struggles to be heard, he holds a mirror up to a world that has forgotten how to look up from its screens.

Neither biopic nor tribute, acclaimed Austrian playwright Peter Turrini’s bold solo play casts Hedy Lamarr as her own witness, accuser, and defense. Haunted by a seven-second nude scene that defined her public memory and moving from Hollywood scandal to scientific erasure, the play explores the fractured inner life of the icon and overlooked inventor: Nicole Ansari Cox is lending her voice to Lamarr as she speaks back to history with rage, wit and dark humour, reclaiming a legacy long reduced to image over intellect.

A Staged Reading

Daughters of Persia celebrates one of the great cultures of the world through the eyes of its women.  Shala Nyx narrates a colourful and moving script by the Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Nicholson (Gladiator, Les Misérables), bringing to life the stories of its extraordinary women from history, literature and mythology. Created by Margaret Fingerhut and Farhad Poupei with Bradley Crewick violin, Guy Johnston cello and Margaret Fingerhut piano

Gypsy Caravan...when the Road Bends is an award-winning documentary that explores the vibrant musical traditions of the Roma while revealing the complex realities of Romani life around the world. Through electrifying performances and intimate, behind-the-scenes moments filmed across Europe, the USA and beyond, the film weaves music with deeply personal stories of culture, identity and resilience.

A celebration of life and music that will leave your toes tapping, your heart pumping

and your soul uplifted by the glorious journey of the Gypsy Caravan concert tour.

A rare opportunity to hear one of the great interpreters of Shakespeare in conversation with one of his most complex women.

Part personal reflection, part theatrical masterclass, this talk offers an extraordinary insight into Shakespeare’s most enigmatic heroine, through the eyes of an actor who helped redefine her for the modern stage.

Who’s performing? That’s part of the fun. An Evening of Women Stand-Up Comedians features a surprise lineup of bold, brilliant comics delivering smart, unpredictable stand-up. No spoilers, just great jokes, big energy, and nonstop laughs. This special event closes the Women’s Voices: A Celebration Festival at the Playground Theatre, ending the festival on a high note of laughter and fearless comedy.