FEMINIST theatre company Scary Little Girls has announced it has been awarded almost £20,000 to help them tell new stories through their Queenagers show.

Queenagers – a show which has played to packed houses across Cornwall on two-sellout tours – celebrates the power of the older woman with a riotous look at the positive side of menopause, interspersed with touching and emotional moments about the truth of this period of change for women.

The production company has been awarded £18,601 from the National Lottery Community Fund to work with women’s groups in Penzance to collect stories of their experiences of menopause.

The stories will represent the voices of women who have lived through experiences of domestic violence, and of women from economically disadvantaged situations.

Women from these groups have some of the worst outcomes around menopause, as their situations often create extra barriers to accessing things they need – such as getting to their GP or speaking to other women about their experiences.

Rebecca Mordan, artistic director of Scary Little Girls, said: “Our core goal at Scary Little Girls is to focus on underrepresented stories, and we want to focus on this often hidden or stigmatised time in a woman’s life as one of freedom and change.

“Not every woman’s experience of menopause is the same and we want to make sure our work in Queenagers recognises that and tells stories from across society. Our long-term ambition is to develop an archive of menopause stories that reflect all women - and this project will kick-start this archive.”

The Queenagers in Penzance project works in partnership with Women’s Aid Penzance, Trelya and Voices from the Deep, a creative writing group in support of those who have experienced domestic abuse.

Queenagers in Penzance works with women from these groups to feel comfortable to talk about menopause: generating responses that are funny, serious, moving and sometimes sad.

Through a series of workshops, the groups have the opportunity to develop a creative response to menopause that will be shared in whatever way they are comfortable - recording a story, a performance delivered by themselves or others or sharing anonymously.

The work with the three groups will initially take place over ten weeks, to allow those taking part to build trust and confidence, before working with Scary Little Girls for another five weeks to develop the final piece of work.

All women taking part will be in venues they know and feel safe in, working with workshop facilitators they know and who have lived through similar experiences.

Queenagers to date has reached approximately 1,000 women with around 300 of them taking part in workshops.

Rebecca added: “Women feel less alone, and uplifted, ready to move forward. Many women reflect on the transformative experience of seeing themselves reflected back and feel empowered to make changes after seeing Queenagers.

“We want women to see stories from women like them, and the funding for Queenagers in Penzance means we are being allowed to represent the stories of more women.”