Last weekend was a busy one for us at Funny Women Towers; we celebrated the eve of International Women’s Day with the 10 Nations Charity Gala at the St James’s Theatre – showcasing some brilliant comedians and raising funds for Womankind Worldwide – and took part in the Women of the World Festival at London’s Southbank Centre. Those of you who came along might have seen us take over a stand in the Clore Ballroom, where we arrived armed with lollipops and our best jokes to explain why we’re passionate about supporting women in comedy.
The WOW Festival was set up three years ago by Jude Kelly, the current Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre. It’s an annual festival which gives women (and men!) from all ages and backgrounds a chance to celebrate women everywhere, but also draws attention to the challenges that they still face around the world. WOW programmed a huge variety of events over the Festival; from talks, performances, gigs, debates, music, stalls and workshops, everybody had a reason to be inspired and empowered by women around the globe.
Our stand was a hive of activity; along with the Funny Women team on hand to chat about the website and the Funny Women Awards, we had some fantastic advice from visiting comedians, writers and past finalists, including 2012 winners Gabby Best and Sooz Kempner. Our highlight had to be our Joke of the Day board – plenty of people got involved and shared their funnies (inspired, no doubt, by prizes kindly donated by Benefit Cosmetics). With so much comedy talent coming to visit us, it was hard to pick just three winners – you can check our Twitter feed for all the jokes that we found particularly hilarious!
One of our favourite parts of the weekend was getting to meet some funny women feeling brave enough to try out some stand-up comedy themselves. Our Executive Producer Lynne Parker ran a Stand Up to Stand Out workshop on International Women’s Day itself, and we were delighted to see a large number of participants turning up to join in. This was not only an opportunity to practice some of the tools and tips of the trade in a relaxed, comfortable environment, but a brilliant chance for women to meet and share their experiences of the Festival so far – and more importantly, have a laugh!
For the people who came down to the WOW Festival hoping to learn more about women in comedy, there was plenty going on besides the Funny Women stand, with female comic talent being celebrated throughout the weekend. On Friday night we finished off a successful first day with a trip to the Purcell Rooms – Funny Women Award finalist Bridget Christie’s final outing of War Donkey saw her perform an hour of extremely funny and feminist material (the perfect accompaniment to her current BBC Radio 4 series, Bridget Christie Minds The Gap). Bristol-based What The Frock! gave us a showcase of female comedy on Sunday in the Clore Ballroom. Featuring Funny Women Awards finalist Rosie Wilby and Shazia Mirza, along with a set from Chortle Award winner Danielle Ward, the hour-long showcase was both tremendously entertaining and an important demonstration of the quality of female stand-ups on the circuit today.
One of the weekend’s most exciting events was Mirth Control: Deeds Not Words, which saw the iconic Sandi Toksvig host a night of comedy and music inspired by women around the world. Joined by special guests Petula Clark and Fascinating Aida, the night concluded with a very special performance from the WOW Women’s Orchestra, led by Sue Perkins and director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop. This was a brilliant crescendo to a weekend full of inspiring women from all over the globe – but also an important celebration of the ongoing presence of female talent in the arts, which can so often be overlooked.
And of course, the comic talent wasn’t just limited to the Festival programme – we met hundreds of real funny women over the course of the weekend too. From aspiring stand-ups and writers, to people who came to the stand for a quick chat and to tell us a joke, our favourite part of the WOW Festival was a reminder that there’s so many women who inspire us by bringing humour and optimism into everyday life, despite often facing challenging circumstances. When we asked people who their favourite funny women were, so many of them mentioned their mums, sisters, best friends or women who are striving to make a difference. If you managed to make it down to WOW, we hope you felt as inspired as we did come Monday morning- and we hope to meet many more of you at future events, workshops and showcases!
See some photos of the Funny Women Workshop HERE
Isabel Dixon
@isabel_dixon
