An award-winning play about PMDD reaches the Gatehouse MET Studio on Wednesday 23 September at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15, one night only, ages 14 and over.
A play that won two awards at this summer’s Buxton Fringe comes to Stafford for one night this week. Tell Me Where It Hurts is at the Gatehouse Theatre’s MET Studio on Wednesday 23 September at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15.
The show is a comedy drama about premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD. It is a cyclical, hormone-based mood disorder, and it is not the same thing as PMS. The charity that consulted on the script, The PMDD Project, says it affects an estimated 5% of people with ovaries and takes an average of 12 years to diagnose.
The tour was flagged to The Stafford Times by the charity’s media team. Keira, writing for The PMDD Project, said the play “draws on lived experience to explore the impact PMDD can have on relationships, work, mental health and everyday life”.
What the play is about
The Gatehouse listing sets out the story. Chrissy is a drama teacher living with PMDD. She is trying to stage the school play while mentoring Annie, a talented student auditioning for a performing arts school. Chrissy’s partner Nathan wants a child; she is not sure.
In the theatre’s words, both women “find themselves facing a shared struggle… the feeling of being unheard and misunderstood by the world around them”.
The company is Teepee Productions, based in Birmingham, presenting with Joe C Brown. The theatre lists the production as supported by Arts Council England, The PMDD Project, The Old Town Hall and Evelyn Health.
The awards, from the festival’s own record
The production did well at the Buxton Fringe in July. The festival’s 2026 nominations and awards list records two wins for Tell Me Where It Hurts:
- the Theatre Production award
- the John Beecher Memorial Award, which Buxton gives “for original, challenging work with high production values”
There is a detail in that list the press release does not mention. Buxton nominated thirteen performers for its acting award, and three of them were in this one show: James Schofield, Stephanie Booth and Tayla Kenyon. The award itself went to Polis Loizou for You Oughta Be In Pictures.
The PMDD Project also says the production won Best Performance at Birmingham Fest 2026. Birmingham Fest’s own website could not be reached to check that, so it is the charity’s account rather than the festival’s record.
The press release describes the play as written and performed by Tayla Kenyon. We have asked the company to confirm who is on stage in Stafford, and will add the answer here when it arrives.
Watch the trailer
What PMDD is, and the numbers the charity publishes
The PMDD Project is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1208032, and describes itself as the UK’s first charity dedicated solely to PMDD. Its explainer page sets out the condition.
Symptoms come in the luteal phase of the cycle, roughly 7 to 14 days before a period. The charity lists them as:
- depression
- anxiety
- extreme fatigue
- irritability
- brain fog
- suicidal ideation
The charity’s case is that the condition is poorly recognised. It says PMDD “still isn’t included in the UK medical curriculum, meaning most healthcare professionals have never been trained to recognise or treat it”, and that people are often misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder or personality disorders first. The 12-year average to diagnosis is attributed on its site to the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders.
Figures published on the charity’s home page, credited to the University of the West of Scotland, put the scale of it in the UK at:
- 824,000 people living with PMDD
- 593,000 who will experience suicidal ideation
- 412,000 who will self-harm
- 275,000 who will attempt suicide
These are the charity’s published figures, not our own, and we have not seen the underlying study.
Age guidance and content warnings
The theatre recommends the show for ages 14 and over, and lists trigger warnings: exploration of mental health, references to suicide and self-harm, some strong language, and a depiction of self-harm. Worth knowing before you book for a teenager.
If any of this is familiar
The PMDD Project runs peer support groups led by trained volunteers with lived experience. It does not publish a list of locations. Instead it asks people to fill in a form and matches them to their nearest group, which may meet in a cafe, a library, a community centre or online. Enquiries go to kimberley@thepmddproject.org.
The charity’s own crisis signposting is to call NHS 111, or 999 if you feel suicidal, with CALM on 0800 58 58 58, Samaritans on 116 123, and the SHOUT text service, which you reach by texting SHOUT to 85258.
What it means for you
- The show is on Wednesday 23 September, 7.30pm, in the MET Studio at the Gatehouse Theatre, Eastgate Street, Stafford ST16 2LT.
- Tickets are £15, bookable online or on 01785 619080.
- It is a single performance. There is no second date in Stafford.
- We asked whether there is a post-show talk or a PMDD Project stand in the foyer. That had not been confirmed by the time we published.
- If you are driving in, our guide to parking in Stafford has the current tariffs, and there is more in things to do in Stafford.
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