Menopause musical hits Crawley and Portsmouth

Menopause The Musical 2: Cruising Through The Menopause heads to The Hawth in Crawley on Wednesday, March 11 at 7.30pm at the New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth on Thursday, March 19.
The musicalThe musical
The musical

And the good news is that the chaps are welcome too.

The cast features Cheryl Fergison (EastEnders), Nicole Barber-Lane (Hollyoaks), Rebecca Wheatley (Casualty) and Nicki French (Eurovision) in the sequel to Menopause The Musical. And Cheryl for one is keen to see the fellas there too: “Whether you are married or have got a partner, you should go along and see it. You should know what happens! You should want to know why your partner might be trying to throw the Tonka toys at your head!

“My policy is that education is the key. If you are talking about stuff, then you are sharing and you are understanding. And for the women that come along, it’s a girls’ night out, and there is solidarity. You can see the women nodding and saying ‘Yes, that’s me!’ and nodding and laughing and pointing at someone and saying ‘That’s you!’ And you get ladies who have been through it all coming along and saying that it is the first time they have been out in ages and it is the first time in a couple of years that they have had a couple of hours when they haven’t had to be thinking about it and worrying about it.

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“You don’t have to have seen Menopause 1. This is just something that generations of woman can come along and see. You will know what we are talking about. I was in Menopause 1 and it was still pretty new, but Menopause 1 has been going for 20 years in America. You can imagine that back at that time it was a taboo subject. But people are better at talking about these things now. It is a bit like with mental health. And it is brilliant. It makes these things less special. You know you are not alone. So many people have to go through these things. My character is a lovely character to play. She is like Barbra Streisand in Meet The Fockers. She is a bit of a hippy. She has spent her life being a bit Zen and then the menopause has come along and she has turned into this complete and utter monster. Outside she is welcoming, but she is literally so angry and upset and her hormones are making her want to throw those Tonka toys.

“In the first show, the women met in a department store. Now they are on a cruise ship. They are four very different women, They are so different they don’t actually have names. I am not called Barbra or something. I am just the earth mother. And we have also got the housewife and we have got the soap star and we have got the power woman.

“The housewife has perhaps got the longest journey. In Menopause 1 her husband ran a funeral business, but he has died and she has now taken over the business, and she is trying to get on with the girls.

“The power woman was a businesswoman in Menopause 1. It was business, all business, that type of woman that you would see in the city. Five years down the line, she has sold her business and she realises that she has never really focused on her family... Really I think it is about us all having to take responsibility. It is a laugh. It has got good music. It has got songs that are parodies and people join in. People laugh will a lot. It is very powerful.”

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