Menopause the Musical 2, which is heading to the forum Barrow on Thursday 9 March.  Tickets are £28 + booking fee.

Starring:

Mary Byrne, Jessica Martin,
Rebecca Wheatley and Susie Fenwick

The hilarious celebration of women and ‘the change’

Following multiple sell out UK and Irish Tours with the original “ultimate girls’ night out”, Menopause the Musical® will embark on a UK and Irish nationwide tour in 2023 for a second year with Cruising Through Menopause. This hysterical sequel to the original smash-hit show fast forwards five years to catch up with the same four characters for tales of their lives, loves and losses as they set sail on the high seas. Menopause the Musical® 2: Cruising Through Menopause is a hilarious, heartfelt, reassuring and unflinching look at the joys of menopause and friendship.
Our 2023 cast will be headed up by the fabulous and hysterically funny Mary Byrne (X-Factor), Jessica Martin (Copycats), Rebecca Wheatley (Casualty) and Susie Fenwick (Musical Theatre Star) This fantastic new comedy is filled with hysterical parody songs about hot flushes, memory loss and aging gracefully…or not!
The tour commences in February 2023 and will continue until July 2023 bringing menopausal joy to England, Scotland, Wales, NI and Ireland. Tickets are now on sale.

For these four ladies the menopause was not the beginning of the end, but the beginning of a beautiful friendship where good pals can get you through the hardest of times.

CAST BIOGRAPHIES

Mary Byrne
Mary Byrne’s story is the stuff of fairy tales and movies. She’s the Tesco supermarket
checkout lady who took a chance in life at the age of fifty by auditioning for Britain and
Ireland’s biggest TV talent show, the X Factor. Although she was pipped for a place in
the 2010 X Factor final, Mary won the hearts of millions with her big, warm personality
and powerhouse voice. And when she finally got her life-changing break in the world of
show business, Mary Byrne, a bright and ambitious woman with a wealth of life’s
experiences under her belt, was determined to make the most of it.
Mary performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her historic State visit to Ireland,
shared the stage with Neil Diamond to perform for over 55,000 fans at Dublin’s Aviva
Stadium and has performed all over Ireland, The UK, Europe and is a regular performer
in the USA in theatres and on luxury cruises.
Having achieved multi-platinum status on her music albums, Mary has just released her 4th Album, Mary Byrne sings the 60’s.
She has also followed her dream of acting on stage and screen. She performed on the West End touring production of Grease – The Musical starring as Teen Angel and she performed a sixteen-week sell-out tour of Ireland starring in Menopause – The Musical. She starred in the Cheerios Panto at the Tivoli Theatre as the Good Queen Mary and in recent years has starred in the Longford Panto.
She appeared in several sell out tours of the hilarious play Dirty Dusting and along with Eilish O’Carroll from Mrs Browns Boys, they debuted the production of Waiting for Gateaux to rave reviews.
Mary was honoured to be made an Ambassador of the Make-A-Wish Foundation which grants wishes for sick children. Never shy of a challenge Mary bravely abseiled down one of Dublin’s tallest buildings for Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Mary also featured as a leader on Celebrity Operation Transformation on RTE1 which saw her transform herself inside and out! She continues to appear regularly on TV and radio.

Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin is a multi-talented entertainer whose career embraces acting, singing,
impressions, cabaret performing, writing and illustration. She comes from a musical
family – her grandfather was the orchestra leader at the Raffles Hotel, Singapore and
her father Ido Martin was a band leader and jazz musician with whom Jessica
performed from an early age. After graduating from London University with a degree in
English and Drama, Jessica got her big television break as the sole female impressionist
in the LWT series Copycats. She was also a regular voice actor on the iconic Spitting
Image series as well as starring alongside Bobby Davro in his impressionist series
Bobby Davro’s TV Weekly. At this time, she was a frequent guest on variety shows
such as Sunday Night at the Palladium, Summertime Special and several Royal Variety
Shows.
As an actress, she played the memorable character of Mags, an intergalactic werewolf in the Seventh Doctor season of Doctor Who. She reprised the role in three audio dramas for Big Finish and even illustrated her for an exclusive Doctor Who comic published by Titan.
She made her West End debut playing Sally Smith opposite Gary Wilmot in the hit musical Me and My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre and has performed in over thirty musicals to date. Other theatre credits include: Babes in Arms (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), The Wizard of Oz (Theatre Royal, Plymouth and tour), The Card (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), Mack and Mabel (Piccadilly Theatre), South Pacific (Churchill Theatre and tour), Sweeney Todd (Bridewell Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (Comedy Theatre), Spamalot (National tour), Sondheim at 80 (Royal Albert Hall), Elf the Musical (Dominion Theatre), Shirleymander (The Playground Theatre) and Blitz! (The Union).
She has performed panto many times alongside legendary performers including John Inman, Peggy Mount and Christopher Biggins. Panto includes: Cinderella (De Montfort Hall, Leicester), Aladdin (The Grand, Wolverhampton), Peter Pan (Wycombe Swan), Mother Goose (Cambridge Arts), Cinderella (Churchill Theatre, Bromley) and most recently Goldilocks & the Three Bears (Richmond Theatre).
Jessica writes and draws comics and graphic novels inspired by her love of films and showbusiness. Elsie Harris Picture Palace was shortlisted for the Myriad Editions First Graphic Novel Prize and her graphic memoir, Life Drawing – A Life Under Lights was longlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize and Theatre Book Prize 2020.

Rebecca Wheatley
Rebecca is best known as the receptionist Amy Howard in Casualty. Other television
roles include Doctors, Holby City, Wycliff, Daziel and Pascoe, Pie in the Sky and the
comedy series Time Gentlemen Please with Al Murray.
As well as appearing on many tv programmes, such as Loose Women, This Morning, The
Wright Stuff, Call My Bluff and Ready Steady Cook, Rebecca has recorded two top ten
singles, Everlasting Love and Stay With Me Baby and the album, Where Time Stands
Still for BBC Worldwide. She has enjoyed singing live in venues such as The Opera
House, Belfast and The Royal Albert Hall as well as many TV programs including Top of
the Pops and the National Lottery Live.
Rebecca has starred in West End musicals as Miss Sherman in Fame and as Big Julie in Bad Girls The Musical, performed as Electra with Julia Mackenzie and Liz Robertson in Gypsy at the Cardiff Millennium Hall and among other pantos played Nurse Nicey with Paul O Grady in Snow White at the Victoria Palace. She performed in Fiddler On The Roof with Bryn Terfel playing Yente the Matchmaker at Grange Park Opera and again at BBC Prom 11 for BBC Radio 3 at The Albert Hall and broadcast live. Rebecca has completed National tours as
Linda and Deborah in Mums The Word, Anita in Girl’s Night, Dawn in Steaming, Rachel Wardle and Leah Hunter in Pickwick Papers. Mrs Amos in Trespass and Annie Wilkes in Stephen Kings’ Misery. Also Barbara in the one woman play Big Pants and Botox which ended with a short run at The Arts Theatre in The West End. She has loved playing Housewife in the smash hit Menopause the Musical for six years and so happy to have collaborated and be touring with Cruising through Menopause. There really is nothing like it.

Susie Fenwick
Susie Fenwick is a professional theatre performer and returns to her previous role as
“Soapstar” for Menopause The Musical 2. Having graduated from the Italia Conti
Academy of Theatre Arts, Susie and has extensive experience on stage and screen. She
has performed all over the world, including in over 20 London West End musicals,
including the closing cast of CATS and Genie Klein in Beautiful – The Carol King
Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, The Sound of Music and Beauty and The Beast. Her TV
credits include Solid Soul for Channel 4, Day Of The Triffids and Pebble Mill for BBC;
The Making Of Britannia High, The Royal Variety Show, Stage By Stage and Quiet As
A Nun for ITV. Susie has also featured in cast album recordings and concerts include:
Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert. During lockdown Susie decided to purchase
and completely renovate a property entirely by herself!
Susie is delighted to be returning again for this year’s tour of Menopause The Musical 2.