Yorkshire dance artist Erica Mulkern's show Suzy Homemaker to be performed in Sheffield

The festival, which opens tomorrow, is an 11-day programme of events in which artists collaborate with academics to bring their research to life for the public. Mulkern’s Suzy Homemaker is based on research by Dr Liat Levita and Ankita Mishra of the Department of Psychology at the University of Sheffield and portrays three women from different eras in history trapped in a gendered role imposed on them by society. The first is suffragette Susannah, an Edwardian socialite who is passionate about the women's suffrage movement but is forced to marry a husband of her father's choosing. Then we meet Ms S a burlesque performer in the late 1920s and early 1930s who takes pride in her work because of the independence it provides but who begins to feel unsafe in her workplace. Finally there is 1950s housewife Suzy who to the outside world seems like the 'perfect wife' living the perfect life but soon cracks begin to appear. "The show is a dance theatre piece,” says Mulkern who will be performing the show next week. “The stories of three women are told through movement, soundscape and narration. None of three characters actually speak – and that is a statement in itself. It is a historical work but at the same time it does have modern-day resonances.”

At Festival of the Mind, September 19. Details and tickets https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/