Against the odds, an East Yorkshire-based all-female theatre collective is celebrating the tenth anniversary of their company which has survived and flourished despite cuts in UK arts funding, a global pandemic, economic recession and a cost-of-living crisis.
Hundreds of performances later the company is celebrating the huge impact its made on local communities, not only entertaining thousands of local people, families, and children, but also helping develop confidence and employment skills for people across the county.
Founding member and Community Fundraising Lead, Hannah Levy, said: “The East Riding of Yorkshire isn’t the backdrop to what we do, it’s the reason we do it. We’ve performed on national stages and in school halls, and both matter equally because both were always for the same people: our community. Ten years on, that hasn’t changed one bit.”
She Productions marks its 10th anniversary with a show and fundraising party on Sunday 14th June 2026, 3 – 6pm, at North Ferriby Village Hall. Tickets are £20, with all proceeds going directly towards the company’s next decade of work.
“This event is a thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey.” Added Hannah. “As a theatre company born in the East Riding of Yorkshire we’ve spent ten years proving that world-class, original theatre and deep community roots are not just compatible, they are inseparable.”
She Productions was founded in the East Riding of Yorkshire by six women in 2015 and has toured main-stage theatres nationally while always remaining rooted in and working for the communities on their doorstep.
This June, they’re inviting the region that inspired it all to come and celebrate ten years with a party for the community that made it possible.
The 10th anniversary celebration will feature the best of She Productions’ shows, including live music, songs, and a look back at the people and places that have shaped She Productions over a decade.
She Productions was founded in 2015 by six women: Jessica Duffield, Annie Kirkman, Alice Rose Palmer, Hannah Levy, Rachel Barnes, and Ellie Claughton. They believed that Northern female voices deserved a place on stage, and that professional theatre shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for city centre audiences.
Ten years on, four of those founders, Annie Kirkman, Jessica Duffield, Alice Rose Palmer, and Hannah Levy, will take to the stage at the anniversary celebration. They will be joined by East Riding-born actor, singer and musician Jo Patmore—a familiar face to She Productions audiences whose theatre credits span the New Vic, Northern Broadsides, and the John Godber Company—and Musical Director Natalie Walker, who has worked closely with the company since 2022, and whose credits include Middle Child and the national tour of Beyond the Barricade.
From the beginning, the East Riding of Yorkshire was not just where the company was based, it was who the work was for. That community focus has never wavered, whether the company was performing in a village hall, a rural library, or a local theatre.
Their original musical It’s Different For Girls, inspired by The Girlfriends, Hull’s first all-female beat group, circa 1965, toured across the UK and attracted national media attention, culminating in the cast performing on BBC’s The One Show alongside former Spice Girl Geri Horner.
Their most recent Christmas production, The Fairy Who Fell Off The Christmas Tree, in partnership with East Riding Libraries and supported by Arts Council England, reached 2,305 people across the region; performing in schools, libraries, a children’s hospital ward, care settings, and community centres. It is the same mission it has always been, a decade on.
She Productions is one of a small number of professional theatre companies based in the East Riding, with an explicit mission to reach rural, hard-to-access, and underserved communities across the region. The company is a registered charity (CIO, No. 1191621).