THE groundbreaking play compiled from hundreds of women's stories about their sexuality is being staged by a group of Worcester women as part of the worldwide "V-Day".

The Read My Lips Theatre group first performed Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues for last year's

V-Day, an annual event which raises awareness about violence against women and children.

After reading about V-day in women's magazine Marie Claire, founder Suzanne Gaffey gathered friends to begin work on a Worcester production which was staged at St Swithun's Hall.

The show is a collection of a dozen monologues based on real-life stories, which moves between laugh-out-loud comedy and serious treatment of issues such as rape and genital mutilation.

This year, Read My Lips will be staging the show at the Marr's Bar, in Pierpoint Street, in aid of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre in Worcester.

"We are thrilled to be repeating this experience and proud to be part of the V-Day movement," said Beth Hunt of Read My Lips.

The event is backed by the County Domestic Violence Forum, formed of social services, education health, police and the probation service.

"This is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of the fact that domestic violence and abuse is experienced on a worldwide scale," said Claire Richards, domestic violence co-ordinator.

"The experience of sexual abuse and rape is vastly under-reported and positive action needs to be taken to encourage women to talk about it."

Tickets for the show tonight are £10 (£7.50 concessions) from The Marr's Bar on 01905 613336 or from Joy in the Hopmarket.