Middle Raged: A Musical Meltdown

Posted on 26 May, 2026

For generations, an unwritten social code dictated that a woman’s cultural presence should soften as they reach middle age — a quiet, graceful retreat into the background.

However, performer Queenie van de Zandt is tearing up that rulebook. Her new show, Middle Raged, proves that midlife isn’t a time to wind down, it’s actually time to fire up.

A Canberra local, for Queenie, bringing Middle Raged to the Canberra Theatre Centre marks something of a homecoming.

Part comedy, part concert and total midlife awakening, Middle Raged is a fresh, fierce and funny production celebrating the riotous chaos of ageing, raging and changing, directed by acclaimed theatre maker Priscilla Jackman. Priscilla has built an impressive career directing some of Australia’s most celebrated productions, including RBG: Of Many, One, The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race and The Cost of Living.

Premiering at the Canberra Theatre Centre this July, the show brings together hundreds of diverse stories of middle-aged women, told through monologue, dance, poetry, skits and recordings, with a powerhouse all-female cast and live band performing hits from P!nk, Sia, Tim Minchin and Missy Higgins.

Queenie van de Zandt singing A Piece of Sky.

Queenie, who wrote the show with close friend and producer Tiffany Noack, says she hopes it will shift the perception that “it’s all downhill from here.”

“We’ve been sold the idea that once we lose beauty and fertility, we aren’t worth anything, but we actually come into our own power,” Queenie says.

“Men aren’t silenced at this age. They’re terrified of us because we don’t care anymore, and we actually become much more powerful than ever before.”

The idea for the show was born when Queenie attended a 50th birthday party, where one word brought a collective hush over the group of women: menopause.

“Suddenly it was like the floodgates had opened, and everyone was sharing their story,” she says.

“I felt an overwhelming desire to write this.”

Alongside Tiffany, Queenie spent years researching, interviewing and writing, weaving hundreds of powerful, real-life stories from women together.

“We put a call out on social media and before we knew it, we had 800 women who wanted to share their stories,” she says.

“A full-circle moment is the woman whose 50th we attended when the idea first came about, is actually acting in the play.”

After the show, the cast will meet the audience in the foyer to share cleverly named cocktails, including “estero gin and tonic” and “non-Bloody Mary.” Flying solo? Book a Sister Seat and you’ll be seated with other fabulous women coming on their own.

“I think people will come away laughing and crying, whatever their age, and feel a sense of sisterhood.”