Oh Woman with the Royal Exchange

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021, and as a homage to influential and extraordinary women, the Royal Exchange Theatre have commissioned six new audio works by six Greater Manchester artists. The works, coming together as Oh Woman, will be released on 8, 10 and 12 March and will be available for audiences to experience via the Royal Exchange website and social media channels until 31 March.

Oh Woman is a celebration of strength, wisdom, activism, friendship, family and the ingenuity of women. A tribute to those women who have influenced our present and continue to shape the future.

Six new audio works by six Greater Manchester artists.

Six artists: Eliyana Evans, Nana-Kofi Kufuor, Gemma Langford, Channique Sterling-Brown, Rebecca Swarray and Becky Wilkie have developed original audio pieces inspired by the women who mean something to them. Each artist has worked alongside illustrator Hannah McClennan-Jones to create an accessible visual experience that will accompany the audio.

A Conversation with Chloe, written by Rebecca Swarray (founder of Manchester-based arts collective RebeccaNeverBecky) explores activism, identity, movement and music. Drawing on interviews with women who have inspired her, amongst them Audre Lorde and Jackie Kay, she has created a powerful exchange between two women of colour.

Musician and performer Becky Wilkie (of RashDash) uses artist and poet Elizabeth Siddal as the inspiration for In Her Own Words. Historically, Siddal’s image has been assigned to men’s paintings and stories – in this piece, she finds herself at the centre of the work. A muse for a modern woman, on her own terms.

A tribute to those women who have influenced our present and continue to shape the future.

In Transgressive, sound designer Eliyana Evans celebrates the life of avant-garde pop music producer Sophie; while playwright Nana-Kofu Kufuor pays tribute to the women who shaped and sacrificed for him in A Letter to a Mother and Sister. Actor Channique Sterling-Brown’s audio piece, The Lady with the Spark, focuses on the incredible life of nurse Mary Seacole. The Last Cunning Woman of Timperley, written by Gemma Langford, takes its inspiration from the stories and memories of her nan.