The Big O a new play aimed to start conversations about female pleasure, consent and mental health

A new play written by a woman from Birmingham will show in London, aiming to start conversations about female pleasure, consent and mental health, writes Claudia Lee.

The Big O, written by Kim Cormack, is more than a semi-autobiographical play.

This female-led production is a two-part project that aims to start the overdue and essential conversation about female pleasure, consent, mental health and the ever-changing attitudes towards sex and relationships in 21st Century Britain.

The first part of the project is a UK tour, including the King’s Head Theatre Bar in Islington.

The Big O is designed to spark conversation.

So the tour will include Q&A sessions where audiences can ask writer Kim Cormack, director Lotte Ruth Johnson and the cast anything about the making of the show, the themes, and topics explored.

Working alongside well-being practitioner Lou Platt, the creative team has carefully, brought to life Cormack’s work, bravely telling truths about women’s sexual and mental health that are too often ignored or downplayed.

Ms Cormack said: “The Big O is a story that most women, and many men, can relate to but is rarely shared.

“Be it taboo, shame, survival strategy or simply not knowing there is another way, sex education, including female pleasure, consent, and identity, is vital to a healthy, happy and empowered life, and yet so shamefully overlooked.

“The Big O, like sex itself, presents the dark and light, humour and heartbreak, complexities and contradictions that we must, as a society, embrace as a whole.”

The Big O is working in partnership with local and national charitable organisations including RSVP (Rape and Sexual Violence Project) West Midlands, a progressive organisation that helps survivors of sexual violence, rape and abuse in the West Midlands through counselling and community support.

Writer and Producer Ms Cormack is also an ambassador and previous beneficiary of The Eve Brook Scholarship Fund, a Birmingham based charity that supports Careleaver’s access to further education and training.

Picture: The Big O in performance Picture: Hannah Kelly Photography