WOW is heading off on tour next week with a brand-new live series, The WOW Show with Jude Kelly. WOW’s Founder and acclaimed theatre director Jude will invite conversation around our often exasperating and confusing journey towards gender equity with audiences at theatres in Twickenham, Chipping Norton, Brighton and York, with a line-up including Aja Barber, Laura Bates, Caroline Bird, Afua Hirsch, Sali Hughes, Mary Portas, Vanessa Redgrave and Kieran Yates, and a host of incredible local heroes who have been nominated by their communities.

Produced in partnership with esk, Jude will share the stage with a different line-up of special guests at each venue, including amazing women and non-binary people local to each area who are making change happen – challenging stereotypes, bucking the trend, and who have inspiring personal stories to share.

In Twickenham on 10 October, writer, stylist and consultant Aja Barber and poet Caroline Bird will join Jude, alongside a special reading by Academy Award-winning actor Vanessa Redgrave. The line-up will also include a performance from bagpiper Millie Scott, and local heroes and changemakers Natalie O’Rourke, founder of Park Lane Stables which supports children and adults with disabilities; Shashi and Pallu Patel, who have created a community hub within their much loved newsagents Meet and Deep; and Jill Lorimer, Head of Campaigns at WEP, Richmond who helps organise the monthly candlelit vigil at Twickenham Green, to commemorate Amelie Delagrange who was attacked and killed on her way home.

Celebrated businesswoman, broadcaster, author and activist Mary Portas OBE will join Jude at The Theatre Chipping Norton on 11 October alongside local heroes: children’s author Lela Burbridge, founder of The Lela Project a not-for-profit publishing house who use their book proceeds to fund library projects in Uganda; and Lisa Ward, a Violence Against Women & Girls activist, researcher and consultant. There'll also be traditional Levantine dancing with Lana Al-Shami.

In Brighton, Journalists, writers and broadcasters Sali Hughes and Afua Hirsch will be in conversation with Jude on 12 October alongside local heroes Molly Mathieson, founder of award winning charity New Note Projects which engages and supports people affected by addiction, homelessness and challenging mental health; Ceyda Tanc, founder of all-female dance company, Ceyda Tanc Dance, that challenges traditional gender representation in dance; student and carer Joyce Coomber Sewell who provides mentorship to autistic students; and Carrolyn Bain - named British Bookseller of the Year in 2023and founder of the award-winning bookshop Afrori Books in 2020, specialising in books by black authors.

Journalist, writer and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, Laura Bates and journalist and author Kieran Yates will join Jude for the final stop of The WOW Tour, at York Theatre Royal on 13 October. Featuring a mind-boggling demonstration from champion Rubik cube speed solver Katie Moughan Davis, they will also be joined by local heroes Abigail Gaines, founder of the Make Space for Girls project which addresses the drop off in park usage as girls enter their teenage years; and Shamim Eimaan, founder of Eimaan Culture and Community Services CIC which focuses on promoting activities to improve equality, diversity, inclusion, health and wellbeing. We’ll also have poetry by Sharena Lee Satti and a final bagpipe performance by Millie Scott.

Alongside personal anecdotes, big picture analysis and tales of incredible women you may have never heard of but who changed the course of history, each evening will crowdsource burning issues and ideas local audiences want to talk about, covering everything from money, sex, race, food, ageing and more, as WOW and audiences will discover along the way.

The WOW Show with Jude Kelly

10 October, The Exchange Twickenham

11 October, Chipping Norton Theatre

12 October, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre

13 October, York Theatre Royal