State PensionJul 6 2018

Women's pension campaign hits the stage

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Women's pension campaign hits the stage

The protest against an increase in the state pension age which affects women born in the 1950s will be reaching the theatre stage in October.

Lizzie’s Charter, a play based on Lysistrata, the ancient comedy by Aristophanes, will premier at the Three Minute Theatre (3MT) in Manchester, with another performance in London on 3 November.

The play was developed by two women affected by the pension change: Gina Frost, theatre director of the Manchester Shakespeare Company, and actress Lynn Touil.

Both women were born in the 1950s.

Several campaign groups, such as Backto60 and Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi), are standing against inequality and unfair treatment of women born in the 1950s who have experienced changes to their state pension age.

The groups claim that while the 1995 Conservative government's Pension Act included plans to increase the women’s state pension age to 65 – the same as men's – the changes were implemented unfairly, with little or no personal notice.

The movements also claimed the changes were implemented faster than promised with the 2011 Pension Act and left women with no time to make alternative plans, leading to devastating consequences.

Ms Frost and Ms Touil feel they’ve “been robbed of their pension entitlement and are both facing an uncertain financial future through no fault of their own,” and are protesting by creating the theatre play.

John Topliff, producer and co-writer of the play, told FTAdviser that the goal is to tour the production to as many venues as possible.

“We will also be publishing the play and making it available for performance by other groups throughout the country,” he added.

For now, the theatre company has launched a crowdfunding campaign raise funds for the performance in London in November.

Some local groups of Backto60 have also offered support to the play, he said.

The money raised from ticket sales will be used to take the play to other venues around the country, with the goal of maintaining “focus on the injustice done to so many women affected by the recent changes in pension entitlement”.

Backto60 is requesting the state pension age to kept at 60 for women born in the 1950’s. However, such a decision would have a cost of £77bn, which has been dismissed by the government.

maria.espadinha@ft.com