Starting performances tonight at Park 90, Sarah Rickman‘s new play, Kindling, “follows five perimenopausal women as they embark on their friend Mei’s final wish; scattering her ashes in the redwood forest of Wales. If only they knew each other – let alone liked one another.
Connected only by their shared grief, what begins as an opportunity to bond, quickly descends into chaos.”
Where: Park Theatre
When: 24 Oct – 15 Nov
Ticket link: https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/kindling/
Sarah tells us more about Kindling and why these stories are so important.
As a woman who has just gone through ‘that stage’ in life, I’m here for the perimenopause being on the stage. How did Kindling come about?
The play was born from a desire to see the stories of mid-life women and the things that affect them, told socially but so rarely seen on stage.
Following Covid, myself and a group of fellow creatives got together (a happy result of their performance in a previous play I had written) to discuss text and read plays that were female driven. Sadly we were wanting.
Following some R & D and a few years of further development, Kindling eventually emerged. I wanted to create a story about women for women which was honest, funny, dark and challenging.
Grief and friendship bonds bring these five women together. Was it easy to tease out their personalities to make this story work, and how much is fiction?
To be honest all these women are an exaggerated version of me. That’s not to say I haven’t borrowed from the many marvellous women I am lucky enough (sometimes) to have shared my life with, so far.
I think we all have a “work” friend, an “old” friend, a “uni” friend, a “family friend” and a “mum” friend. Some of these stories are true, some are not, it’s for the audience to wonder.
It’s definitely true to say the menopause is still not part of everyday conversation – do you think that is/will change and how can women make sure it does?
Yes, I do think things are changing — finally. The menopause and perimenopause has long been something women didn’t really discuss or if they did it was too late to do anything about it.
But there’s now a definite sea change thanks to influential voices like Davina McCall, Davinia Taylor, and Diane Danzebrink banging the “meno drum” loudly and proudly, it no longer feels like a taboo topic or something that signals invisibility and irrelevance.
Menopause/Perimenopause is more than just a “hot flush”, it’s a whole range of symptoms. The more we talk about it openly and without shame, the more women can recognise what’s happening to them, seek the right support, and feel less alone. I mean FFS, all women go through it one way or another.
We educate our children about puberty, so why not perimenopause and menopause too? Understanding these changes means people don’t feel like they’re “losing it” when they can’t remember what a spoon is called, or find themselves crying at a soggy kitten video at 3 a.m.
It’s about normalising what’s natural, empowering women to speak up, and making sure menopause and perimenopause becomes part of everyday conversation – as it absolutely should be.
You are a performer as well as a writer. Do you feel a particularly affinity for one over the other?
They feel symbiotic now and I couldn’t really imagine one without the other, that is not to say I have to be in everything I write or write everything I perform in.
Truth is, I think they help inform one another and I feel lucky to be able to do both. We just need more midlife women writing for midlife women, then I’ll be happy.
What’s next for Kindling and Ladybird Productions?
Ciara Pouncett, fellow Ladybird (and great actress and producer), and I are so excited about what is to come.
We started the company because we wanted to give opportunities to women just like us, women who, while talented, had taken breaks from their careers for one reason or another but still had so much to offer.
We are so proud that we have a completely all female creative team (no mean feat) and we want to shout loudly about how amazing they all are. We also want to continue to tell heart felt female stories.
We are hoping to take Kindling on tour and this would not be possible without their vision. Emma Gersch, our fantastic director who has been championing women, particularly mothers, with her group Band of Mothers. Chloe Kenward, Lighting, Esther Ajayi, Sound, Abi Groves, Set Design, Victoria Rose, Stage Manager, Elizabeth Lewis, Costume, Esther Fernandez Guerra, Associate Director.
We’re passionate about continuing to tell heartfelt, female-led stories, and we know that Kindling is just the beginning. We want more — and we’re sure audiences will too…
Watch this space.