The Women In Comedy Festival returns for a 9th year this October, celebrating women and all who identify as women in comedy.
The festival this year runs from 1st to 10th October across eight venues within the Northern Quarter area of Manchester city centre; they are The Frog and Bucket, The Fitzgerald, Gullivers, Fierce Bar, Twenty Twenty Two, Rose and Monkey, Northern Monk and Cane and Grain.
The festival is set to showcase work from the likes of Peep Show’s Isy Suttie (pictured) where Jackpot sees her searching for the excitement in life. Newcomer award nominee at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019 Helen Bauer showcases a new work about self-care entitled Madam Good Tit. Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year Nina Gilligan discusses her move to Trouser Town while Hatty Ashdown invites us to place all our problems in The Worry Drawer.
All Killa No Filla podcast star Rachel Fairburn presents her show Can I Be Awful? taking back all the words that have been used against her and absurdist comedian Su Mi invites us to immerse ourselves in her Banana Beard. Immigration lawyer Sikisa will be fresh from an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run as will bilingual TikToker Tatty MacLeod.
Elsewhere Jenny Hart charts her story as a trans woman, whereas Kate Martin dissects being tall and boyish and being mistaken for a man. French comedian Arielle Souma tackles being ‘fat’, or rather ‘PHAT’ and Kate Barron charts her drastic lockdown weight loss. Meanwhile Esther Manito examines how things really are for women in the UK today and Indian American recently relocated to the UK Pooja Mallipamula debuts her first hour long show.
Plus there will be a special one off, all female, edition of Beat the Frog hosted by the incomparable Hayley Ellis who will also be performing her latest solo show at the festival.
Originally set up in 2013 by Dulcet Sounds’ Hazel O’Keefe, the festival is now run by Jessica Toomey of the Frog and Bucket Comedy Club who came on board in 2018.
Of the festival Toomey notes, ‘ten years on I'm delighted to announce the 9th annual Women in Comedy festival, the only one in Europe. This year’s programme really celebrates the diverse and talented pool of women working in comedy whose shows cover such a wide range of themes. In the current climate it's so important that we can provide an accessible, affordable arts festival that allows women, especially in the North, to thrive without the current financial barriers other festival models put in place.’
In the last decade the festival has played host to the likes of the star of her own sitcom Katherine Ryan, the award winning Alma’s Not Normal creator Sophie Willan, the as-seen-on Britain’s Got Talent Barbara Nice, the unstoppable Jo Caulfield, What Would Beyoncé Do?’s Luisa Omielan, Phoenix Nights and The Job Lot star Jo Enright, the critically acclaimed American comic Desiree Burch and international star Gina Yashere.
Patrons of the festival include actor Maxine Peake and comedians Jo Enright, Isy Suttie, Jo Caulfield, Susan Calman, Kiri Pritchard McLean, Dana Alexander and Ayesha Hazarika.
When she took on the patronship Peake commented, ‘I’m proud to be supporting the UK Women in Comedy Festival as a patron. A festival filled with laughter combined with feminist principles taking place in the North… what’s not to support!’
For full line ups check out www.womenincomedy.uk
Picture: Matt Crockett
