WOMEN'S real-life secrets have inspired a groundbreaking new play.
The unique project by an award-winning Brighton theatre company saw more than 2,000 women from around the country confide their innermost thoughts and memories.
There was the woman who wanted to be a goalkeeper for Arsenal, the angry friend who spat in the face of her friend’s husband because he’d been sleeping with prostitutes and the grandmother who saved a man’s life by killing a charging bull with a three-pronged spike.
The tales of thwarted ambitions, home-made social justice and sheer bravery were just a few of the extraordinary experiences that women confided in Brighton theatre company Broken Leg Theatre.
The theatre’s three directors, Anna Jefferson, who lives in Preston Park, London-based Alice Trueman and Emily James-Farley, of Worthing, have now moulded the collection of secrets told to them by women, their mothers and grandmothers into a play set to go on national tour next month.
The trio also created an interactive website with funding from Arts Council England - which will become an archive of the secrets women divulged.
Anna said: "From illegitimate children to powerful female role models, women shared very emotive, personal experiences.
“Many revealed family secrets they’ve never told anyone before, and they’ve been able to do this because they can remain anonymous.
“It is very humbling.”
The resulting play, directed by Ria Parry, is a story about family secrets and the horrors of moving back in with your mum in your 30s, of finally appreciating the best piece of advice your grandmother ever gave you.
Elsie was born in a Yorkshire pit village in 1936 and will never know another way of life.
Gilly was the first woman in her family to go to university, enjoying the freedom of the seventies and Frankie learned about sex from Judy Blume.
Three Generations of Women will be at the Old Market on Tuesday, March 15, as well as touring Greenwich Theatre, in London, Leeds and Salford.
Tickets are on sale now.
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