By Queenie van de Zandt & Tiffany Noack. Women with Pockets and Andrew Kay Associates. Joan Sutherland Theatre Penrith, NSW. 3 – 4 July, 2026, and touring.
Reviewed : 4 July, 2026
Middle Raged is, in the words of its co-writers, “a fresh, fierce and funny celebration of what really happens when women hit midlife.” It’s a combination of songs, sketches and storytelling that exposes the real issues of aging for women: the truths, the chaos, the confusion, the rage – and the powerful possibilities of the future … “because once you’re over the hill the view is incredible!”.
The concept for Middle Raged was born after a riotous 50th birthday party. Over five years it was fed and nurtured by interviews, surveys, Facebook posts and passing conversations with hundreds of women of different backgrounds from allover Australia. The result is a “meltdown” of their stories, a truth telling in song, dance, sketches and some historical myth busting. It’s biting, bitter and scathing. It’s warm, tender and compassionate. It’s also outrageously funny – as only women telling it as it is can be!
Queenie van de Zandt is joined by Valerie Bader, Carita Farrer Spencer and Zuleika Khan – a veritable quartet of female Australian talent whose combined experience is a chronicle of Australian theatre and screen history and awards. Together with musicians Robyn Womersley (keyboard), Julian O’Dowd (drums) and Sandy Close or Tina Harris (bass) they will take this hilarious heart-warming performance from Sydney to Canberra, Wagga Wagga and Wyong.
They will do so with the energy, vivacity and resilience that Middle Raged is all about – the fighting spirit that makes women cope with the multiple effects of menopause while they work, cook, wash, iron, look after kids and pets, care for aged parents and bolster aging male egos. It’s all there, carefully trimmed and stitched into a patchwork counter-pain (pun intended) of camaraderie and joy. Every “patch” is different …
There’s the hysterical busting of centuries of mansplain myths about menopause read with academic aplomb by Valerie Bader. Zuleika Khan’s paints a poignant picture of perimenopausal. Khan and Bader come together to compere the Menopause Marathon, the first leg of which is finding a doctor who knows anything about menopause!
Carita Farrer Spencer covers coping, caring and co-ordinating in a sketch about “making a list” and the Queenie van de Zandt does a lovely take on forgetting words – as well as tying everything together as a very understanding, appealing and multitalented narrator.
The four come together in some wonderful moments – like a clever send up on the musical “Six”. In this case it’s “Four” women from literature and what their life really could have been – Lady Macbeth running a “humble laundromat called “Out Damned Spot” perhaps!
Queenie van de Zandt & Tiffany Noack pay tribute to veritable “posse” of creatives, among them Isabel Hudson whose costumes personify the warm flush of sisterhood, whilst her set is a perfect backdrop for Kaz Cooke’s quirky cartoons and Mark Bolotin’s quotes and collages and bubbles that kaleidoscope throughout the production.
Middle Raged is a “call out” to the world that older women are real. They’re visible, loud, unqualifiedly able to climb mountains and wave their flags from the highest peak … and they are also very funny!
First published in Stage Whispers magazine
Tour dates:
July 8 – 11 at the Canberra Theatre Centre
July 14 – 15 at the Wagga Wagga Civic Centre
July 18 – 19 at The Art House, Wyong