The Playground Theatre Reveals Lineup For Women’s Voices: A Celebration

The Playground Theatre's Women's Voices: A Celebration will return for its second year, bringing together an extraordinary line-up from across theatre, the Arts, politics, media and beyond.

Launching with a powerful tribute to the legendary ballerina Lynn Seymour, marking three years since her passing and celebrating her enduring influence on dance, the festival unfolds across March with an exceptional programme of events. Audiences can look forward to appearances by acclaimed performers including Janie Dee, Janet Suzman, Caroline Goodall and Nicole Ansari-Cox, alongside leading writers from playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz to Motherland creator Helen Serafinowicz, as well as trailblazing women from politics, business and public life in conversation.

Timed to coincide with International Women's Day, Women's Voices invites audiences to experience a rich and diverse mix of female-led theatre, music, dance, film, multimedia performance and thought-provoking discussion. Spanning centuries and continents, this year's programme celebrates both established and emerging talent, uniting influential voices from the Arts and beyond to share stories that challenge, inspire and resonate.

HIGHLIGHTS include:

• An evening dedicated to the legacy of trailblazing ballerina Lynn Seymour, featuring live performance and documentary (8 March);
• Performances and staged readings of TWELVE PLAYS including: Janet Dulin Jones' The Elizabeths with cast Caroline Goodall and Rachel Pickup, Madame Mozart by Anne Undeland, directed by Myriam Cyr, starring Nicole Ansari-Cox, Rebecca Lenkiewicz's The Spy Princess, about WWII secret agent Noor;
• Motherland creator Helen Serafinowicz with director/writer Lisa Forrell discussing writing comedy for TV and their new series collaboration (12 March);
• Conversation with multi-award-winning journalist Jane Corbin, ‘Looking for Trouble' (14 March);

• Nicole Ansari-Cox's acclaimed multi-media performance SHE/HER, dedicated to the brave women in Iran, who sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement (17+18 March);

• Disruptors - influential women shaping business, finance, and public life come together to share the defining moments that transformed their lives. Featuring a high-profile panel including Dame Emma Walmsley, Baroness Minouche Shafik, and Baroness Shriti Vadera (19 March);

• Oliver-award-winning Janie Dee performs Moon Watch, a brand-new one-woman show exploring movement, words and song connected to the moon (21 March);

• Janet Suzman reflects on Cleopatra, a role she helped redefine for the Modern Stage, in Did Cleopatra Squeak? (28 March);

• Film - including acclaimed filmmakers Jackie Oudnay and Tina Andrews; Music - including Trio Goya's Women Composers Revisited; an Evening of Women Stand-Up Comedians; and more. 

Naomi Sorkin, curator of WVAC: "I'm excited to be launching our second festival of Women's Voices: a Celebration. We are only able to present a small portion of the possibilities before us, which shows just how strong the desire is — and how broad the creativity of women — for their stories to be heard. At a moment when headlines continue to expose the scale of abuse carried out by the rich and powerful against women, Women's Voices stands as a clear counterpoint. This festival exists to amplify women's stories — through performance, music, dance, theatre, and conversation — and to insist that women's voices are heard, believed, and valued."

Nicole Ansari-Cox, WVAC co-producer and performer: “In a world where women's voices are being silenced and marginalised, Women's Voices is a vital and inspiring festival. Audiences have access to a female-led pool of playwrights, storytellers and new voices that yet has to find its precedent.” 

The Playground Theatre launched Women's Voices in 2025 to showcase the brilliance, diversity and multi-talent of women past and present. The inaugural festival was enthusiastically received by audiences and artists alike, successfully introducing exciting new work that has gone on to full production. Alba Arikha's Spanish Oranges, first introduced during WVAC 2025, now enjoys a full run, starring Maryam D'Abo at The Playground Theatre in the lead-up to this year's festival (11 February - 7 March).