It’s an innovative project with laughs at its core.

Women & Theatre’s brand new comedy show, Laughing for a Change, will be at the LBT on Wednesday, March 26 at 8pm, featuring Rob Deering, the UK’s foremost guitar-wielding, loop-layering stand-up comedian.

He is heading up a hilarious line up including Susan Murray and Matt Hollins, all compered by loveable housewife Mrs Barbara Nice.

Mrs Nice is Janice Connolly, the artistic director and a founder member of Women & Theatre.

She has 30 years experience creating and delivering new theatre and drama about things that matter.

As a successful stand-up comedienne she performs regularly on the comedy circuit as Mrs Barbara Nice.

Probably best known for her role as Holy Mary in Peter Kay`s Phoenix Nights, she has also appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, at sell-out one woman shows at The Lowry, Hull Truck and London’s Soho Theatre and in TV shows including Coronation Street and Doctors.

Women & Theatre is an award-winning Birmingham-based company and registered charity which has been pioneering new ways of addressing contemporary issues through performance since 1983.

The company creates engaging drama, which promotes the spiritual, social, physical and mental well being of the whole community. Women & Theatre aim to reflect the language and lives of ordinary people, giving voices to those not usually heard and is now delivering four community comedy courses as part of the Laughing for A Change project.

This involves working with people who have experience of mental health problems, working with them to create new comedy material to challenge discrimination and the stigma of mental illness.

Laughing for A Change aims to bring people who don’t have mental health problems into social contact with those who do. Evidence suggests that this kind of contact is one of the most effective ways of breaking down stigma and discrimination. For more information visit www.womenandtheatre.co.uk

Tickets cost £9/£7 (concessions). Contact the box office on 01484 430528 or go to www.thelbt.org