Mood swings, hot flushes and cold sweats ... it’s all part of the Fife show!

It can only be one thing – the menopause.

But rather than complain about it, why not turn this change-of-life experience into a fun filled night at the theatre, complete with great songs, rewritten to perfectly capture the mood?

Three of Britain’s best-loved stars, EastEnders’s Cheryl Fergison, original girl power group legend Maureen Nolan and Casualty’s Rebecca Wheatley, along with comedian Katherine Lynch, are now starring in Menopause The Musical which is coming to the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline on February 28.

And the ladies believe sharing this fun night to be therapy for the soul.

This is Cheryl’s fourth tour with Menopause The Musical, which has been on the circuit since 2001, and, for her, the timing couldn’t be better.

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She said: “This show simply had to be made.

“It tells you it’s okay to talk about the subject and I’m delighted because I’m going through the menopause myself at the moment. You see, until you do you have no idea it’s such a big thing.”

Cheryl explained what the show is about: “Basically it’s what it says on the tin. It’s about four women who meet in a department store. They are very different characters but the one thing they find they have in common is that they are all going through the menopause.

“Each one of them has different effects and it’s done through parodies of songs from the ’60s’, ’70s and ’80s and there are different words to go with them so instead of hot flush we have night sweats as a song. It’s just a really fun musical and I would say about 97 per cent of the audience are women and then you get the three per cent of men who actually really enjoy it.

“They go ‘ah, that’s why the other half did that!’

“I would say to anyone who hasn’t been through the menopause yet this is what you’ve got coming.

“And then there are those going through it, and they say ‘Oh my gosh, these are my symptoms...’

And there are those who have been through it, and they go ‘Ahhh, I remember when I had that’, so it caters for everybody.

“There is something in every character that people can take from and say ‘that was definitely me’.

“For example, ‘maybe I didn’t have the night sweats but I had the brain freeze and couldn’t remember stuff’...

“But it’s very funny; it’s hilarious - it’s a proper, empowering girls’ night.

“We have a great cast and it’s about these women coming together and talking about a subject that used to be quite taboo, but it’s definitely getting better now.”

The actress, who is best-known for playing the loveable Heather Trott in Eastenders, gave an insight into her role in Menopause the Musical: “None of the characters has names as such but we have titles, so my character is called Earth Mother,” she said.

“Basically she is a little bit of a hippy and I would say she is something like Barbra Streisand’s character in Meet The Fockers! But while she has this outward demeanour of being cool, calm and collected, the inner anger sometimes comes out! She is a bit knowledgeable of life and she likes yoga and chanting, and there is a lot of comedy with my character.

“The audience can relate to her and they are laughing because she is someone who is always going on diets and trying to keep fit, and you know what it’s like – you always let yourself down at the last hurdle!”

Cheryl also explains what the other women are like: “ Maureen Nolan’s character is the fading soap star in it. She has been on television and her career is crashing around her and it’s due to some of the things she is going through with the menopause.

“She has a toyboy but she feels she can’t keep him because she feels he wants to be with somebody younger, but that’s her own imagination more than what the reality is. So it’s about people’s insecurities as well.

“Then there is the power woman who is a business woman trying to deal with going through the menopause and trying to do board meetings.

“She can be doing a power talk and then suddenly she can’t remember what she is saying next.

“Then you have another character who has been married for quite a long time and she goes through a longer journey in the show.

“She goes from not knowing much about life to trying the most.

“The end is good because the song is quite uplifting and it shows we have all made a bit of a journey and how far, if you want to, you can change certain things.

“It’s all about personal choice and personal decisions.”

Cheryl said parts of the show are also very moving: “All of us at one point have a lovely thing about our mothers, which is revealed through telephone conversations.

“Each one of our mothers are different and it’s the relationship we have with them at a certain age, like we are now having to look after them or they haven’t quite understood us.

“Or, in my case, my mother is the hippiest of the hippies, she has gone and got married again for the seventh time and I am going, ‘Oh my God, not again!’”

Cheryl is looking forward to coming with the cast to the Alhambra later this month.

“It is going to be a new experience for us,” she said, “but we have found, in general, the further north we go, the more raucous and funny the audiences are.

“We are really looking forward to coming to Fife, we can’t wait.”

○For tickets visit: www.alhambradunfermline.com