Here are some dates for your diary of woman-centric events going on around the UK this week.

Brighton:

27 – 29 January: Witch: The Maiden at Marlborough Theatre, 4 Princes Street, Brighton, at 8pm.

This is the first of three plays coming this Spring season, each play can be enjoyed individually or as part of the full trilogy.

Set in a dark and timeless speakeasy, this new trilogy captures the progress of but one night: a confrontational night of roving maidens, brutal princes, musicians, dancers and drink. We invite you to follow the adventures of three beloved fairy tale characters, as they lose themselves in a mystical and frightening reality.

Inspired, in equal measure, by the likes of the Grimm brothers and Caitlin Moran, this concoction of new music, contemporary physicality and old, old tales looks at gender and its apparently stoic implications both past, present and perhaps even future.

Tickets £5.

London:

28 January: House of Lords vote on compulsory sex and relationship education in English schools

This will include teaching about zero tolerance of violence in relationships and the importance of respect and sexual consent. The motion is being supported Eve Ensler, founder of One Billion Rising, and Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary.

We know that violence in teenage relationships is increasing, and if you believe education is the key to protecting young women, you can show your support by signing the petition here.

30 January: Is Fat Still a Feminist Issue? at iNDUSTRY, 20 East Road, London N1, at 7pm.

Feminist Times’ January members’ event will be a panel discussion on the theme of “New Year, New You”, featuring: Natasha Devon, director of the Body Gossip education programme, a “campaign to empower every body to be the best version of themselves”, Dr Charlotte Cooper, psychotherapist and fat activist, Sophie and Audrey Boss, founders of Beyond Chocolate, the UK’s leading anti-diet community.

The discussion will be chaired by performer, artist, broadcaster and director Scottee Scottee. Space is limited and seats will be allocated on a first come first served basis, with priority given to registered Feminist Times members.

31 January – 2 February BAM: Being a Man at London’s Southbank CentreLondon SE1 8XX.

Policy Making, Society, Getting Personal; three days of talks, debates, keynotes, performances and big ideas intermingled with free music and discussions, all looking at issues affecting men eg Akala on the history of patriarchy; Michael Kaufman, activist and cofounder of the White Ribbon Campaign, on men and feminism; Martin Daubney on porn and the brain.

Men of all ages and from many walks of life lead conversations and Q&As on what it means to be a man today.

1 February: The Freedom Train: Standing in solidarity with the Women of Spain meeting at Hungerford Bridge from 1pm.

The right of Spanish women to access safe and legal abortion is currently under threat with the proposal to reform the law in a highly restrictive fashion by Spain’s ruling party, the Partido Popular.

On 1 February, trains will depart from all over Spain carrying pro-choice campaigners to Madrid, where they will hand Spanish MPs the text ‘Because it’s my choice’ in which Spanish pro-choice supporters demand the continuity of the current Law of Sexual and Reproductive Health and pregnancy termination to promote the moral autonomy, freedom of conscience, and a guarantee of the plurality and diversity of all women.

Stand in solidarity with Spanish women and their right to access safe and legal abortion and show your support from the UK: travel to Madrid ‘in spirit’ via a symbolic journey from Charing Cross Station to Waterloo East, and then meet at 1pm at Hungerford Bridge, London, on 1 February.

What to do and where to go:

1. Get started on decorating hangers for 1 February. It doesn’t matter how artistic they are, whether they can contain messages or not – feel free to express yourself!

2. Dress in pink, red, pinky orange, purple, fuchsia, coral – whether it’s a scarf or a hat, or top to toe!

3. On 1 February, travel with friends, children, partners, family, etc. to Waterloo East from Charing Cross station in order to make it to Hungerford Bridge for 1pm.

4. Take pics of your hangers on the train or at the station and then tweet/post/share them to show our support to the women of Spain. #train2madrid #bellyhangers

5. Bring whistles, music, colourful banners, food, whatever you think will cheer up the atmosphere. We will then tie our decorated hangers to the Hungerford Bridge and leave them for passers-by.

Until 22 February: Blurred Lines by Nick Payne and Carrie Cracknell at The Shed, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1.

Blurred Lines is a blistering journey through contemporary gender politics. An all-female cast dissect what it means to be a woman today: in the workplace, in cyberspace, on screen, on stage and in relationships.

This new piece explores the reality of equality in Britain today, where feminism is a dirty word and pornography is inescapable. Blurred Lines is a fast-paced, razor sharp glimpse of a culture which promised liberation and delivered Robin Thicke.

Nick Payne’s plays include Constellations, Wanderlust (Royal Court) and The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse).

Carrie Cracknell is Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre. She was previously Artistic Director of the Gate. Recent work includes A Doll’s House (Young Vic and West End) and Wozzeck (ENO).

Suitable for 15 years and over. Please note: The production contains references to sexual assault.

30 January – 22 March: The Mistress Contract by Abi Morgan at Jerwood Theatre downstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W.

She and He are the pseudonyms of a real-life couple who live in separate houses in the same city on the west coast of America. She is 88. He is 93.

For 30 years he has provided her with a home and an income, while she provides ‘mistress services’ – ‘All sexual acts as requested, with suspension of historical, emotional, psychological disclaimers.’

They first met at university and then lost touch. When they met again twenty years later, they began an affair when She – a highly educated, intelligent woman with a history of involvement in the feminist movement – asked her wealthy lover to sign the remarkable document that outlines their unconventional lifestyle: The Mistress Contract.

Was her suggestion a betrayal of all that she and the women of her generation had fought for? Or was it brave, honest, and radical?

Then — on a small recorder that fit in her purse — this extraordinary couple began to tape their conversations about their relationship, conversations that took place while travelling, over dinner at home and in restaurants, on the phone, even in bed.

Based on reams of tape recordings made over their 30-year relationship, The Mistress Contract is a remarkable document of this unconventional couple, and the contract that kept them bound together to this day.

The Mistress Contract is Abi Morgan’s Royal Court Theatre debut. Her theatre credits include most recently 27 for National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly’s Lovesong. Her previous plays for the stage include Skinned, Splendour and Tiny Dynamite. A BAFTA award-winning writer; on film, she wrote the screenplay for The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep and Shame, directed by Steve McQueen, and on television, her credits include BBC2’s The Hour; Birdsong, starring Eddie Redmayne on BBC1, White Girl and Sex Traffic on Channel 4.

Tickets £32, £22, £16, £12.

Until 23 March: Tate Britain – a display of artwork by Sylvia Pankhurst at Millbank, London SW1P 4RG.

Looking at Sylvia Pankhurst and how she used her artistic skills in the fight for women’s rights, designing badges, banners and flyers, and recording the lives of working women.

Until 23 March: a Tate Britain display – Women and Work at Millbank, London SW1P 4RG.

Looking at the industrial issues of the 1970s from an overtly feminist perspective.

Between 1973 and 1975 artists Margaret Harrison (born 1940), Kay Hunt (1933–2001) and Mary Kelly (born 1941) conducted a detailed study of women who worked in a metal box factory in Bermondsey.

Their investigation was timed to coincide with the implementation of the Equal Pay Act, which had been passed in 1970. They collected a vast amount of data through interviews, archival research and observation.

Women and Work was one of the earliest projects to tackle political and industrial issues from an overtly feminist perspective.

Manchester:

29 January: Dangerous Liasons! The Marriages and Divorces of Marxism and Feminism at Friends Meeting House from 6pm.

Cinzia Arruzza, Italian revolutionary socialist feminist, activist and academic, member of the Fourth International, currently at the New School for Social Research in New York, is author of the 2013 book Dangerous Liaisons: The Marriages and Divorces of Marxism and Feminism.

The book runs through debates over links between Marxism and feminism, ranging from the Russian and Chinese revolutions and the rise of Stalinism to the second wave feminist conceptualisation of gender as class relation and then to recognition-based politics and queer theory.

This meeting is co-sponsored by organisations working together in Manchester: Socialist Resistance, the AntiCapitalist Initiative, and the International Socialist Network.

It continues an urgent debate within the revolutionary left at the Beyond the Fragments event in Manchester about the role of feminism in our politics.