LAST summer Livewire Theatre produced their biggest, most daring and challenging piece of
theatre to date.

As part of the Playhouse Summer School; young people from Harlow, led by
creative director Sam Ashford, devised an original piece of theatre on the subject of “Violence
towards Women and Girls”.

The two act play consists of live music devised and performed by the Livewire Music Collective with
leadership from Steve Cody and talented local singer songwriter Roisin Quinn. The Livewire
Dance Company, led by Becky Gentry, heighten the drama and captivate the audience as the play
twists and turns through three young women’s stories.

The play itself focusses on three main characters played by Amy Harvie, Holli Battelley and
Rebecca Fox as they arrive at University in 1985, 1995 and 2025 respectively. Each story runs
through the next as we join the principle characters as they negotiate varying levels of sexism,
stereotypes, toxic masculinity and violence towards women and girls.

Rory Davies, Harlow Playhouse Artistic Director had this to say
“Last years performance was outstanding, over the past four years since we started the
Playhouse Summer School, this ensemble of young people have stayed together, developed their
skill and craft and are now performing at such a high standard that makes all of us at Harlow
Playhouse incredibly proud of young people in from our community.

I approached Livewire to put this performance on again as I feel it needs to be seen by a wider
audience. It was very well supported by family and friends last summer but I feel this play is too
important not to be seen again, especially with the current climate of Toxic Masculinity and the
recent discussions around the Netflix programme ‘Adolescence’. Young men and women, as well
as families need to see this piece of theatre, it is life changing”.

Holli Battelley, one of the principle characters explains:
“This is such an important issue, as a young woman, that feeling of not being safe walking down
the street or feeling like an object, it’s around us all of the time and we need to tell people about it.
We need to help them understand that the way we treat Women and Girls in our society is wrong.

I’ve been a member of Livewire since the start of secondary school, now I am at University and `I
am so grateful to livewire for giving me the skills to be and feel this confident. Im also aware of so
many social issues as a result of all of our performances and I believe this is our best and most
important show so far”.

The performance takes place on the main stage at Harlow Playhouse in Sunday 22nd June
7.30pm. Tickets can be purchased through Harlow Playhouse box Office starting at £2 as part of
a “Pay What You