She has just finished a three-month stint dancing completely naked at the Barbican but Maddy Morgan says talking about her fertility for new show Scary S**t was the hardest thing she has ever done.

The Finsbury Park performer does not have periods and was just 17 when she found out she may not be able to have children after being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (POS).

“There was support in terms of a doctor but not emotionally,” she says, “and I think for a young woman that is quite a big thing to deal with.”

The 29-year-old would clam up when friends discussed menstruating and never even considered therapy until fellow performer Rhiannon Faith asked her to collaborate on a new show in which they faced their deepest fears.

They worked with Colchester psychologist Joy Griffiths, to film and record a series of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) sessions in which they worked through their issues.

“Rhiannon had this fear of using the telephone, and picking up numbers she didn’t know and decided it was time to deal with it," explains Maddy.

“Then she asked me if there was any fear or anxiety in my life I would like to deal with.

“I kind of knew in myself what it was, a fear and anxiety around fertility, but it wasn’t a clear phobia like hers, it was a bit more messy.”

She adds: “At first I thought ‘oh god not again’ because our last show The Date was autobiographical and had me and another dancer I used to date and it was all about our relationship. After that I said ‘never again’ but I feel like when we do this kind of work the audience reaction is so different and that is a big sway for me as even though I know it will be really difficult and scary, I know it will be worth it.”

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Maddy said this new project helped her recognise her negative behaviour around her condition.

“I don’t have periods so when I was around friends and they would talk about it I would totally shut off and get upset and be in a mood for a day that I couldn’t get out of. I would sit and perpetuate this fear and wind myself up. It’s quite rational to have fear around that stuff but the way I was dealing with it was irrational.”

The show is delivered as a series of vignettes, using dance, poetry and recordings and verbatim quotes from their sessions and Maddy describes it as silly, smutty, honest, heartwarming and dark adding: “We are really genuinely trying to work out our s**t on stage.”

Unlike Rhiannon’s her journey does not quite resolve itself, but she says: “The show actually became a lot more about our friendship, rather than our fears I think, and how we supported each other through the process. That was a really beautiful thing we found.”

And she hopes their honesty will encourage audiences to open up more.

“Talk about it, that is what I have learnt from this. Periods can be quite a taboo subject and something we don’t really want to share but just talking about it can show you that you are not alone and that’s a really important thing.

“POS is so common I think but I didn’t even talk to my friends about it. But since doing the show some of them have said they have it to or have a friend who has it and now has kids, it opened up a dialogue which I realised I was probably missing.”

Her CBT sessions have ended for now but Maddy says the show has not only changed her life but also her attitude to therapy: “I’d never even considered it before, I had this idea, that I think a lot of us do, that to get therapy you have to be in a really bad place. But if I had a bad leg I'd go to the physio straight away, I wouldn’t wait until I couldn’t walk.

“I feel like now I get that about therapy and it is not such a scary thing to do and it would be good if more people did it. We all go to the doctors for little things but don’t look after out mental health in the same way.”

Scary S**t , Rich Mix on February 20, 8pm and The Pleasance on February 26 and 27, 7.30pm. Details: rhiannonfaith.com