OVER the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing an eclectic range of theatre which truly represents the diversity of our population.

The Family Sex Show, a musical that challenges sexual taboos and turns sex education into an entertaining and informative production to enable and encourage families to be able to discuss this subject openly and unabashed. The cast which reflected a breadth of race and ability, including a blind performer and wheelchair user, sought to ask the questions that young people want to ask, rather than the dry and awkward sessions given in schools that focus on the negative aspects of intimate relations.

A second sharing, Flour Babies and Me, written and performed by Jenny Sealey was an autobiographical story intertwined with Annie Fine’s book, Flour Babies. It described how Jenny had become profoundly deaf one day at school during a freak accident. Tracking her life, she discovered after giving a eulogy at her father’s funeral that he was in fact not her natural father which led her to question her identity and how this and her disability had led her to her current post as Artistic Director of Graeae, a company renowned for placing deaf and disabled actors centre stage and challenging preconceptions.

Later that day, I had the pleasure of seeing Calendar Girls The Musical, a poignant story about one WI group’s determination to make a calendar that sold enough copies to pay for a sofa in the waiting room of a hospital where one of its members had been treated for cancer. Humour is a most effective way to communicate and this production had the audience in tears of both joy and grief.

The Brewhouse has had its fair share of extraordinary productions too. Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave an outstanding performance in her one-woman National Theatre production, Fleabag, which was screened twice to full-houses.

Russell Maliphant Dance company stunned audiences with their beautifully hypnotic, mesmerising production of Silent Lines. The company were heading next to Sadler’s Wells in London, the premier dance venue in the UK.

I don’t know how much longer we will be able to bring you productions of this quality and I know the region will be all the poorer for not being able to access such high-quality productions on their doorstep.

VANESSA LEFRANCOIS
Chief Executive of Taunton Theatre Association