Two popular performers are coming to Durham this week as part of their latest tours.
On Sunday, 17 September Brummie housewife Barbara Nice will entertain Gala audiences with her latest show Raffle.
Nice, who starred in a four-part BBC Radio 2 sitcom earlier this year, is played by Janice Connolly, best known for her role in TV show Phoenix Nights.
The life-affirming comedy show, which is suitable for anyone aged 14 and over, is filled with amusing anecdotes, and promises to have audiences joining in and singing along.
Audience members will also be given a free raffle ticket, giving them the chance to win a prize off Barbara’s ‘special table’.
The following evening will see Australian-born author and screenwriter Kathy Lette take to the stage as part of her debut live comedy show ‘Girls Night Out’.
The first part of the show takes the audience on a ‘psychological strip tease’ from tales of love, lust, men, marriage and childbirth to hiding Julian Assange in her attic and kissing Prince William.
The show later goes on to talk poignantly about the trials and tribulations of raising a child on the autistic spectrum, from her son Jules being bullied at school to his successes playing Jason on Holby City.
“I’ll share with the audience the one thing that I haven’t really talked about much, my autistic son. I get women to think about their husbands, their fathers, their sons. If they’re trainspotters or planespotters or if they put their records in alphabetical order […] then there’s a good chance they’re on the autistic spectrum,” she said.
With 12 international bestsellers under her belt including How To Kill Your Husband: And Other Handy Household Hints, Kathy admits the show has “feminism sown through” and says men must do their bit to force through true equality in society.
“Things will only finally change when men think ‘I did not want this for my daughter’. The show is a feminist rallying cry that we’re all in this together. But it’s not dogmatic; I’m being funny with it,” she added.
“I’ll talk about all the sexism that comes into your life once you have babies because even though women make up more than 50 per cent of the workforce they’re still doing around 99 per cent of the housework and childcare. Men always say they’d love to help more around the house but that they simply can’t multi-task: what a sexist, biological cop-out that is.”
A regular commentator on BBC and Sky News, Kathy is also looking forward to meeting fans after the show.
“The lovely thing about meeting my readers is that they’re so witty and warm and welcoming: they bring me amusing anecdotes they’ve been saving as little conversational doggy bags.
“I like to communicate and if I have a gift as a writer, it’s putting into words what women might be thinking but not have the chutzpah to say out loud.”
Tickets for Kathy Lette cost £17 and £12 for Barbara Nice. Both can be purchased from www.galadurham.co.uk or by calling the box office on 03000 266 600.