A New Musical Based On Real-Life Moving and Funny Tales of Motherhood, Produced, Written, Directed and Performed by Mums: The Good Enough Mums Club comes to Storyhouse from 3 – 4 November 2023
The REcreate Agency and Spin Arts are delighted to announce that The Good Enough Mums Club, a poignant and hilarious new musical based on women’s own stories of motherhood, is coming to Storyhouse in Chester from Friday 3 to Saturday 4 November, as part of a UK tour.
The show is produced, written, directed and performed by mums – with the passionate team behind it spending the last decade bringing this production to fruition.
The cast of The Good Enough Mums Club is Rebecca Bernice Amissah (A Strange Loop, Daddy) as Michelle, Joanna Kirkland (Dear Evan Hansen, The Witches of Eastwick) as Bea, Amy Ross (Wicked, Heathers) as Sophie, Jade Samuels (Jumprov, MAWA) as Chantel and Belinda Wollaston as Esme (JUDY!, MAMMA MIA!) with Gemma Atkins (MAMMA MIA!, Wicked) as Swing and Cartier Fraser (The Buddy Holly Story, The Best of Wham) as Swing.
With a book and lyrics by Emily Beecher and music by Verity Quade, Chris Passey, The Good Enough Mums Club is directed by Sarah Meadows and Michelle Payne.
Not perfect? Join the club! From peeing on sticks to drooping tits, The Good Enough Mums Club is both a hysterical and heartbreaking show which shares the love and dispels the myths with enough wipes to mop the tears and clean away the snotty laughter.
When the Council threatens to close their local playgroup, five women thrown together by motherhood overcome their isolation, loneliness, judgement and perfectionism to discover that they’re stronger as a group than as individuals, and that sometimes, being good enough is best.
Emily Beecher, an award-winning Co-Creative Director, writer, producer, performer, story consultant and proud single mama to Maisie, is the creator and Founding Mother of The Good Enough Mums Club – a musical that grew out of her experience with severe postnatal depression and postnatal psychosis. At the prompting of her therapist, Beecher began to journal her experiences while juggling the demands of a newborn. During 2014, a short community workshop version of The Good Enough Mums Club played to sold-out audiences. In the following years the team reworked the musical by meeting mothers from all over the country – from a mosque in Birmingham, to a pub in Leeds, to a school in the shadow of Grenfell – collecting their stories to ensure the show represents a variety of experiences of motherhood.
The Good Enough Mums Club is leading the way with its family-friendly working policies, which includes job shares, family friendly accommodation and children being welcome in the rehearsal rooms.
The production has been co-commissioned by The Lowry and Birmingham Hippodrome, with support from Arts Council England.
The Saturday 4 November 2.30pm afternoon performance of The Good Enough Mums Club at Storyhouse will be a relaxed, family-friendly show. The sound levels will be a bit lower, the lights won’t be completely dark, and no one will mind if your child fusses, you feed them or need to nip out.
The Good Enough Mums Club welcomes children under 4 to its special relaxed baby & child friendly matinees (although if your child is at the stage where they repeat everything they hear, you might want to consider this as the show is quite sweary!). Evening performances are strictly for those 12+.
To book tickets for The Good Enough Mums Club at Storyhouse, visit www.storyhouse.com/whats-on/the-good-enough-mums-club
LISTINGS
Title of Show: The Good Enough Mums Club
Box Office: Visit http://www.goodenoughmumsclub.com/book for a list of venue websites.
Running time: 2 hours with a 20-minute interval
Category: theatre, musical theatre
Content warnings: bad language, sexual references, child loss, postnatal depression, postnatal psychosis, racism and loneliness.
Children & baby policy options: The Good Enough Mums Club welcomes children under 4 to its special baby & child friendly matinees (evening performances are strictly 12+). These matinees are a more relaxed and family-friendly experience. For more information about these, visit http://www.goodenoughmumsclub.com/book
2023 TOUR VENUES – ALL ON SALE NOW
25-28 October Birmingham Hippodrome, Patrick Studio
https://www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/the-good-enough-mums-club-two/
/ 0844 338 5000
3-4 November Storyhouse, Chester
https://www.storyhouse.com/whats-on/the-good-enough-mums-club/ / 01244 409 113
9-11 November Norwich Theatre Playhouse
https://norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/good-enough-mums-club/ / 01603 630 000
22-23 November MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton
https://www.mayflowerstudios.org.uk/what-s-on/the-good-enough-mums-club-2023/
/ 02380 711811
30 November – 2 December The Lowry, Salford (The Quays Theatre)
https://thelowry.com/whats-on/the-good-enough-mums-club/ / 0161 876 2000
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS
PRESS CONTACT:
Alison Duguid PR
(+44) 7934 375492
PRESS ASSETS – HEAD SHOTS & BIOGS:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v1qh19wi8xda2zr/AAAhvY7_yDnlj_0PgSJ1t-0ha?dl=0
WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA:
Website: https://www.goodenoughmumsclub.com
Twitter: @GoodEnoughMums
Instagram: @goodenoughmumsclub
Facebook: @GoodEnoughMumsClub
TikTok: @goodenoughmums
ABOUT EMILY BEECHER
Emily Beecher is an award-winning Co-Creative Director, writer, producer, performer, story consultant and proud single mama to her gregarious daughter Maisie.
She is the creator and Founding Mother of The Good Enough Mums Club – a musical that grew out of her experience with severe postnatal depression and postnatal psychosis. At the prompting of her therapist, Beecher began to journal her experiences while juggling the demands of a newborn. During 2014, a short community workshop version of The Good Enough Mums Club played to sold-out audiences and in the following years the team reworked the musical by meeting mothers from all over the country – from a mosque in Birmingham, to a pub in Leeds, to a school in the shadow of Grenfell – collecting their stories to ensure the show represents a variety of experiences of motherhood.
Emily’s latest show, Summer Camp For Broken People, previewed to 4 and 5 star reviews at The Pleasance in May 2023 before going to the Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In 2020 Emily and fellow independent producer Reece McMahon launched The REcreate Agency, a place where artists, producers and projects could come to grow and develop. REcreate is driven by their shared values of inclusivity, generosity, connection, kindness & joy.
Emily was the Story Consultant on the viral hit which was the Walt Disney Company’s first ever Christmas ad, From Our Family To Yours 2020.
As a content producer, Emily’s had the pleasure of working with clients such as Proctor & Gamble, Hasbro, Kelloggs, Universal, Nintendo, Nickelodeon, Mattel, Somerset House, the English National Ballet, and the Labour Party.
Short films Emily has co-produced, co-written, and performed in have been shown in London, Paris, Berlin, Vancouver, Cannes, Tokyo, Mexico and Bolivia.
For four years she worked at The Walt Disney Company as a marketing and events manager for Healthy Living. Here she created and launched campaigns such as Healthily Ever After and the Finding Dory Inspired Family Swim Sessions which were rolled out to 450 pools across the country. She also worked on the Disney & PHE Change4Life 10 Minute Shake Up campaign as well as the Incredibles 24 Hour Challenge.
Emily holds a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing (Distinction) from the University of Lincoln and The Guardian.
ABOUT THE RECREATE AGENCY
The REcreate Agency is a multidisciplinary creative agency that develops the potential in independent artists, producers & projects. Founded in 2020 by independent producers Reece McMahon and Emily Beecher, REcreate is at the forefront of cultural change and is changing the culture of how we share, talk and think about making work together. https://recreate-agency.co.uk/
ABOUT SPIN ARTS
Spin Arts has produced award winning and critically acclaimed international touring productions for the last 10+ years. Working with a diverse range of artists from different backgrounds and art forms, Spin Arts is committed to creating shows and experiences that showcase unique and often under-represented voices. We strive to bring the very best cultural experiences to local communities and invite them to help shape the stories we tell. Our productions can be found in theatres, libraries, galleries, community centres, and outdoor festivals, to name a few www.spin-arts.com
ABOUT ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.
ABOUT BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME
Birmingham Hippodrome is on a mission to provide that “goosebumps” feeling through memorable and extraordinary experiences. Our vision is clear, we want a “distinctive, world-class Birmingham cultural scene with the Hippodrome at its heart”. As one of the biggest providers of arts and culture in the city, the Hippodrome provides over a million people a year with those same goosebumps moments through our on and off stage programmes and performances.
Long recognised as one of the UK’s premier presenting theatres, the past five years have seen Birmingham Hippodrome develop into a creative producing organisation focused on access, diversity and inclusion, doubling our impact to match our annual audience of 550,000 with a further 450,000 people engaged via festivals, learning, participation and produced work.
With nine Associate Companies, the Hippodrome produces and commissions bold new work, telling fresh and engaging stories, reflecting the youth and diversity of the city and region.
Birmingham Hippodrome is an independent charity, run by a board of voluntary trustees with no regular revenue funding from public sources.
To learn more and find out how you can support Birmingham Hippodrome visit: birminghamhippodrome.com
ABOUT THE LOWRY
The Lowry is a registered charity committed to using visual and performing arts to enrich people’s lives. The Lowry presents audiences with a diverse programme of theatre, opera, musicals, dance, music, comedy and visual art as well as events and activities to expand the horizons of audiences and artists alike.
The Lowry has an extensive commissioning and artist development programme that underpins its programme and showcases its commitment to the development of new work for theatre. Recent commissions and co-commissions include Operation Mincemeat, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Peaky Blinders, CAKE, Police Cops The Musical and The Good Enough Mums Club.
ADDITIONAL PRESS QUOTES
Matthew Eames, Head of Theatres (Contemporary and Commissioning) at The Lowry, said: “I have seen firsthand the impact of The Good Enough Mums Club and it is clear this musical has superpowers! Watching the concert version of the show was incredible and Lowry audiences more or less demanded that they get to see the whole show. We’re delighted to comply and play a role in supporting a new musical to boot!”
Chilina Madon, Executive Director at Birmingham Hippodrome said: “As part of our commitment to developing new musicals, we’re thrilled to be welcoming Hippodrome Associates, The Good Enough Mums Club back into our Patrick Studio this October. The concert version of the musical in November 2021 was a huge hit with our audiences who really connected with this special production.”
Peter Knott, Midlands Area Director at Arts Council England, said: “We’re delighted to support the tour of this new musical. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, audiences will be able to share stories inspired by real mums, brought to life on the stage in this new production. A number of additional activities especially for mums, their children and those who support them, are provided alongside the production and will offer a great way for mothers and their children to make new friendships, share experiences and feel supported in their local communities.”
Dr Jess Heron, CEO, Action on Postpartum Psychosis, said: “It’s so important to raise public awareness of postpartum psychosis – a severe postnatal mental illness that affects around 1400 new mums in the UK each year. It often strikes without warning, and urgent help is needed. Seeing experiences brought to life on the stage in such a hopeful and reassuring way, as is the case with The Good Enough Mums Club, is invaluable in helping women and families to feel less alone and more able to identify symptoms and ask for help.”