A NEW Southampton arts festival is set to celebrate the centenary of British Women winning the vote.

A host of female stars, including comedian Ruby Wax, are set to perform in The Bungalow Café Festival, running from September 6 to October 13 across Nuffield Southampton Theatres’ venues.

The Bungalow Café once stood on 157 Above Bar Street, Southampton, opposite the new NST City. It was the local home of women’s suffrage before it was destroyed in the Blitz.

Head of programming Katy Snelling said:“Just as the Bungalow Café was the meeting point for the NUWSS [National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies] we hope this festival and NST will be a meeting point for conversations about the power of women’s voices, 100 years after women first won the vote in Britain.”

Some of the UK’s most influential female voices including, Jenny Éclair, Shappi Khorsandi, Wendy Cope and Jess Phillips MP have come together to write a world première, Women in Power (September 6-29) which will launch the festival. It is a musical comedy based on the Greek classic, The Assemblywomen.

Other theatre highlights include Proto-type Theater’s The Audit (or Iceland, a modern myth) (September 10) examining contemporary politics 10 years on from the 2008 financial crash; SEXY (September 14) which explores the conflicted relationship women have with their bodies and Luca Rutherford’s Political Party (September 17) showing how politics is done, through music, dancing and eggs.

Other theatre includes Bullish (20-21 Sep), a new play exploring new and ancient territories in trans-masculine gender and identity. Plus, the NT There will also be live screenings of the National Theatre’s Julie (October 3) starring Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa .

Comedy highlights include Ruby Wax, the Monk and the Neuroscientist: How To Be Human (29-30 Sep), Sara Pascoe with LadsLadsLads ( October 14) and an all-female line up of NST’s regular The Comedy Bar: Big Gig (October 11) including Lucy Porter, Angela Barnes and Shazia Mirza.

Salon Du Cinema celebrates the trail blazing icon, Mae West ( September 12), RSC Live screening of The Merry Wives of Windsor (October 8), a live all-female DJ set from Frau DJs (September 22) and talks by leading feminist speakers Dr Naomi Paxton (September 22) and Dr Finn Mackay (September 29).

The festival culminates with a new production of Medusa (October 11-13), a story of rejection, redemption and revenge, created by Laboratory Creative Associates and performed by Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Elf Lyons.