It is ingeniously named, it is a really clever show and it’s all about women’s periods.

The female menstrual cycle is not a topic usually flaunted under bright lights in a public place. However, My Greatest Period Ever is a celebration of a woman’s period detailing the highs and lows of the monthly cycle.

The crowd in the Spiegeltent are mainly women, with only a scattering of men amidst the female groups of sisters, mothers and daughters and female friends out on the town.

Lucy Peach strides onto the stage dressed all in red, looking rather like menstrual blood! She boldly tells us she is ready to “edutain us all about perioding.” She begins with her own personal story about having her first period as an unaccompanied minor on a long-haul international flight.

Known as the Period Preacher, Lucy presents her show brilliantly assisted by her husband Richard. He sits quietly and unassumingly on the side of the stage. His male presence helps make the few men in the audience relax. Lucy introduces him as the ‘only menstrual doodler’. What a doodler and co-performer he proves to be. It is hard to know whether he or Lucy is the star of this show, but it is obvious they work sensationally together. 

While Lucy pours out information and advice, Richard seems to effortlessly use an iPad to create amazing, relevant depictions of Lucy’s explanations. His drawings instantaneously appear on a screen which has pride of place on the small stage. It is worth attending My Greatest Period Ever just to see his art work. However, his cartoon-like drawings would mean very little without Lucy’s enlightening chatter.

Lucy informs, tells stories, refers to a graph, sings and dances. She lures a man and several women from the audience to share and participate onstage. We all find ourselves on a wild ride.

The ‘F’ word is reiterated with regularity but has lots of impact. (Note there is a family version of The Greatest Period Ever where no ‘F’ words are heard.)

It feels like we are participating in a weird mix of a TED talk, wellness seminar, medical lecture, self-help therapy class, a maths and biology lesson, a musical concert, shadow play, singalong, an art tutorial and a strange, hallucinatory trip. Sometimes it is hilariously funny and at others extremely serious.

I am astonished how willingly audience members want to participate onstage. One is even a bloke! Maybe it is the temptation of dark chocolate as a reward that sees volunteers soar like Super Women. They tell stories about boring Tinder dates and jobs left unfinished by husbands and that resonate with others.

In the midst of all this, both women and men are being enlightened by Lucy about the four stages and energy levels in a 28-day menstrual cycle: Dream, Do, Give and Take. We learn how females knowing where they are in their period cycle can use that knowledge for positive means, rather than suffering through it. 

Lucy Peach is certainly convincing as she allows women to not feel 100% all the time. She encourages them to use their peak moments to get lots done, appreciate their quieter days to be creative and to celebrate that they can start afresh all over again the next month.

The show finishes to resounding applause. Women, and even a man or two, linger post show. They huddle in small groups feeling bold enough to discuss their own period experiences.

One female says, “I wish I had seen this show years ago. I would have known so much more!” A bloke exclaims, “If only I had known all that! I would have understood much better. We men don’t talk about that sort of thing much.” A post menopausal woman declares, “I almost feel like I’m grieving to find all that out now when it is too late.”

The audience leaves having discovered the power within the menstrual cycle and how that makes it great. Thanks Lucy and Richard.

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