Lucy Peach, sexual health educator and musician, presents My Greatest Period Ever as part of Spiegel Fest this November in Taranaki.
Lucy Peach, sexual health educator and musician, presents My Greatest Period Ever as part of Spiegel Fest this November in Taranaki.
Folk singer, human biology teacher, sexual health educator and performer Lucy Peach is bringing her show, My Greatest Period Ever to the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust’s Spiegel Fest.
The show runs for two performances in the final weekend of the festival and promises to transform the audience’s understanding of the menstrual cycle into a memorable, funny, informative and thoroughly entertaining spectacle.
Ilona Hanne caught up with Lucy to find out more.
The show’s title does gives the topic away doesn’t it – it’s about periods: a subject that is often taboo, talked about in whispers sort of thing. What made you decide you were going to be the person to change that, and start talking, loudly, about periods?
I never really decided to be that person. But I was lucky enough to stumble across a book called The Optimised Woman when I was working as a sexual health educator. That was sort of my gateway in. I was 27 and I was the mother to a little 2-year-old boy and was a burgeoning folk singer and a sexual health educator. And all of a sudden, in reading the book, I realised that I didn’t really understand myself, I mean, who understands himself at 27? But I didn’t really understand my connection to my body and how I could use that to be kinder to myself to be more creative, to have better conversations with my partner, with my son, and just to be more present to my life. From that, it led to wanting to share that with others, to talk about what I have learned and why we need to pay attention to our bodies.
The title certainly grabs attention. Especially the positive angle with the word greatest in there, I’m not sure that’s a word many people use when talking about periods, is it?
The title’s a bit of a misnomer really, because it’s about the whole cycle, which a period is just one bit of. A cycle isn’t just a period being on or off. There’s four phases, and that’s what the show is based on. And that cycle is a real resource.
Okay, so you are talking about the whole menstrual cycle, and it’s not just great, you say, but it’s actually a resource we can tap into?
Yes. You know, even now in school we still reduce it to a hygiene issue and it’s only useful for reproduction when, in fact, you’re going to have 450 cycles – 450 periods – and while you might use one or two of them or six of them, or none of them to have a baby, you can use them all to do all of the things that are important to you. The show is about the emotional landscape of the menstrual cycle and how, when you are a cyclical person, you don’t feel the same every day, you don’t feel the same every week. Historically, we are being made to feel that that is an inadequacy, and something to be managed when in fact, it’s a real resource. You can still fly planes and run countries and do whatever you want, obviously, because we always have.
Lucy Peach is shifting antiquated menstrual mindsets from shame to pride in her show My Greatest Period Ever, which is coming to Taranaki this month.
The show isn’t just you on stage, your husband is an integral part of the show as well, isn’t he?
Yes, he does live illustrations during the show. That started when I was debuting a show and I was practicing in front of him. He’s a creative director so he’s very good at bringing things to life. And I guess the show is as much about how to understand a menstrual cycle as it is how a couple might integrate it or talk about it. I asked him what he thought of it, and he said it was good, but could do with some visuals. So I asked him to do that, and yeah, he does that and it projects onto a screen and well, we have a lot of fun together.
The show isn’t just about periods, and it’s not just for women. Who should come and see it?
It’s for everyone. What I love most of all is responding to people, so whoever’s there, the show is for them. And I welcome men to come because women love it and relate to it and I love preaching to the choir because that’s fun. But it’s special when men come and they learn from it. I think the coolest thing for men is, they walk away with permission and encouragement and a new dialogue to talk about it in a way that goes far beyond the old idea that periods are a bit gross and uncomfortable and when you’re premenstrual you’re a psycho. There’s a lot more to it and, you know, just before you ovulate, you’re six times more motivated, that’s a fact. So why aren’t we leading with that when we talk about periods and cycles? Why are we still hung up on this negative narrative?
That is a cool fact, and something I think people will remember. What else do you want people to leave the show knowing, or feeling?
Self love, acceptance of our nature, balance and just being where you are, using what you have. We don’t need to spend all this energy trying to be the same every day and no matter what day of the cycle you’re on, you’re enough. All we have is each other and ourselves and the bodies we’re in. So if we can be present to those and kind to them and connect to them, then we can use what we have and that’s what we need.
The Details:
What: My Greatest Period Ever
When: Saturday, November 23, 7pm. Show suitable for ages 14 plus. Sunday, November 24, 2pm. Family show suitable for ages 5 plus.
Win: Thanks to our friends at TAFT, we have a double pass to the Sunday family show of My Greatest Period Ever. To be in to win, simply email editor@stratfordpress.co.nz with the words Greatest Period in the subject line. Include your name and contact phone number in the body of the email. Competition closes at noon, Wednesday, November 20, and the winner will be contacted that afternoon.
Ilona Hanne is a Taranaki-based journalist and news director who covers breaking and community news from across the lower North Island. She has worked for NZME since 2011.
