Menopause? Seriously? WTF? Kat thought they were far too young to worry about menopause; biology thought differently. Now their hormones are going haywire, their diary is full of NHS visits and sleep is a distant memory.
Join Kat Lyons on a journey featuring anxiety, insomnia, and self-conscious jogging as they explore their changing identity, question societal expectations of age and gender and do their best to navigate the first chaotic year. Interweaving music, movement and medical texts with original poetry and animation, Dry Season is a witty, honest and intimate spoken word theatre show about questioning assumptions and learning to rewrite your story.
Dry Season was written in response to Kat’s diagnosis and early experience of premature menopause at the age of 39, following 18 months of undiagnosed symptoms including chronic insomnia, depression, and paranoid anxiety. Through internet forums, surveys and interviewing menopausal women, Kat discovered that their initial feelings of shame, isolation and ignorance were shared by countless others. Despite being an experience shared by half of humanity, due to systemic ageism and misogyny, menopause is widely seen as something embarrassing and shameful. If it is mentioned publicly at all, then it is often the punchline of misogynistic jokes. Dry Season was created in an attempt to counter this.
Kat uses their autobiographical journey to explore societal expectations of age and gender, and to create space for open discussion and wider representation of menopause. Dry Season aims to generate knowledge and empathy between people of different ages, genders, and experiences.
In conjunction with Dry Season, Kat is running a Reconnecting With The Body creative writing workshop at Canada Water Theatre on Wednesday 1 March at 6pm.
Kat Lyons (they/them) is a Queer Bristol-based writer, performer, workshop facilitator and creative producer whose work is grounded in everyday politics and a love of storytelling. They were recently announced as Bristol City Poet (2022-2024) and nominated for the Jerwood Poetry in Performance Award 2022. Kat’s debut collection Love Beneath the Nails was published in February 2022 by Verve Poetry Press. They perform widely at poetry nights, festivals and events throughout the UK. Kat believes everyone has a story to tell, and a voice worth hearing.
Dry Season is written and performed by Kat Lyons. The tour is produced by Rua Arts. The show has Dramaturgy and Movement Direction by Laura Dannequin, Lighting Design by Sarah Readman and Animation and Animation Design by Edalia Day. The production is funded by Arts Council England and supported by Artspace Lifespace, Camden People’s Theatre and Apples & Snakes, with thanks to Bristol Ferment.
To find out more about Kat Lyons and Dry Season, visit: http://katlyons.co.uk.
Date: Thursday 9 March 2023
Time: 8pm
Venue: Canada Water Theatre and Library, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 7AR
Running Time: 60 mins (no interval)
Age Guidance: 14+
Box Office: https://www.canadawatertheatre.org.uk/2542/Dry-Season / 020 8692 4446
Tickets: £14 standard; £12 concessions
Trailer (short version, 3 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvDPobHnAT4&t=4s
