Hachette's Vagina Monologues performance raises hundreds of pounds

Virago and the Gender Balance Network staged a sold-out performance of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues at Hachette UK's offices in London on Valentine's Day to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

The show, held on Wednesday afternoon (14th February), starred staff from across the company, including Little, Brown editor-in-chief Antonia Hodgson who first published The Vagina Monologues for Virago back in 2001 as well as the recent 20th anniversary edition.

The performance attracted 140 people to Carmelite House's lower ground auditorium leaving standing room only and raising £508.37 for V-DAY, an activist movement to end violence against women and girls. It also saw over 50 packs of tampons and towels donated to Bloody Good Period, supporting its work to end period poverty on the ground by giving the products to asylum seekers and refugees who can't afford them.

Jo Wickham, deputy publicity director at Little, Brown, said although two decades has passed since the original performance of Ensler’s play, the dialogue surrounding women’s bodies was "more important than ever, particularly recently, as we have seen through the #metoo and Times Up campaigns".

The play has been translated into 45 different languages. 

Among the cast were, in order of appearance: Hodgson, editor-in-chief for Little, Brown; Little, Brown press officer Hayley Camis; deputy publicity director for Little, Brown Jo Wickham; publisher Sarah Savitt; Orion group production director Fiona McIntosh; senior publicity manager for Virago and Little, Brown Grace Vincent; HCG project editor Sarah Silver; publicity assistant for Virago and Little, Brown Milly Reid; HCG publishing administrative assistant Katie Packer; Orion marketing exec Jennifer Breslin; W&N fiction editor Jennifer Kerslake; Trapeze editorial assistant Marleigh Price; Piatkus Fiction editorial director Anna Boatman; deputy publicity director for Little, Brown Zoe Hood; Natalie Morse, PA to group sales director Lucy Hale; Hannah Jallouli-White, Hodder's international schools consultant; Katie Horrocks, Orion deputy production manager; Orion Children's editor Lena McCauley; editor for Quercus Rose Tomaszewska; Kate Craige, assistant editor at John Murray; Little, Brown senior publicity manager Ella Bowman; W&N non-fiction editor Holly Harley; Ailah Ahmed, senior commissioning editor for Virago and Little, Brown; and Little, Brown marketing manager Aimee Kitson.