Bella Merlin brings her show Tilly No-Body to Edinburgh Fringe this summer.
“In a deserted circus, drama, humour, music and songs tell the true story of actress Tilly Wedekind and her controlling, famous husband, Frank Wedekind (Spring Awakening). When Frank robs Tilly of her acting roles, he reduces her to a Nobody.
Broken-hearted, she attempts suicide. Following her recovery, she reclaims her career, discovers her voice and writes her own story, so Tilly No-Body became a Somebody.”
Where: Bramley at Gilded Balloon
When: 30 Jul-24 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/tilly-no-body
Bella tells us about Tilly and the show below.
For those who don’t know, can you give us the lowdown on Tilly Wedekind?
Tilly is quite a fascinating person, and I think I’m a bit in love with her. She was the actress-muse to the older, famous playwright Frank Wedekind (who wrote the original Spring Awakening, now a famous musical). Frank also wrote the “sex tragedies” Earth-Spirit and Pandora’s Box about the vivacious, voracious “Lulu”. (You may have seen the iconic image of Louise Brooks from Pabst’s silent movie, with her black bob and her huge black-lined eyes.)
Tilly’s autobiography is called Lulu: The Role of My Life, and I discovered as I read it that Frank turned Tilly into Lulu in the course of their marriage. He wrote very erotic roles for her and then grew morbidly jealous when he saw her act them out. He weighed and measured her body. He took control of her finances. He only allowed her to perform in his plays, even though she was great at classical roles.
In the end, Tilly was so depressed, she attempted suicide by swallowing poison, Mercifully, she survived – and Tilly No-Body tracks the three days in which she lay in a hotel room, poisoned: her life flashes before her, and she finally recovers to reclaim her own narrative and – eventually, aged 80 – write her own story.
Her story is sadly not a unique one in which a vibrant, creative woman is silenced under coercive control and domestic violence. What message do you hope audiences will take away?
That’s a great question, as ultimately theatre is all about the audience. We certainly want to uplift audiences, even if the material is somewhat dark. I’ll be honest, I was in a domestically violent relationship in my 20s – ironically, during a time when I was playing Lulu in London. So it’s incredibly important to me that anyone silenced under coercive control and domestic violence finds a way to be heard and witnessed.
For many years, I was deeply ashamed of what I’d experienced – in fact, I’d forgotten a lot of the details until prepping for Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But I truly believe that when we find the structure and vocabulary to shape our experiences – as storytelling (like Tilly’s memoir) or theatre (like Tilly No-Body) enables – that chaos becomes manageable and our resilience can be triumphant.
I’d love all audiences – whatever their gender identity or life experience – to feel both invigorated by the nature of the human spirit and also take a moment to consider just how important sincere communication is in all our relationships, particularly intimate ones.
After all, violence often arises when language doesn’t seem to work. So my real message is: “Let’s talk and listen to each other sincerely, compassionately and with love.” And “You’re never too old or too young to share your story.”
Was it important from the start to make this a show with songs, set in a circus?
Absolutely! For a couple of reasons. First of all, Frank Wedekind loved the circus – in fact, the first “LULU” play, Earth-Spirit starts in a circus ring, and he often has acrobat characters in his plays. Second, my director Miles Anderson loved the circus as a child. And Miles is brilliant: he wants theatre to be full of magical moments and surprises – as well as laughter, tears, gasps and everything in between – and the circus environment allows for that. (Full disclosure, Miles is also my husband.Though, I should say, our working partnership is very different from Frank and Tilly’s!)
As for the songs, there was again a historical reason and a personal reason. Historically, Frank Wedekind was a lute-playing balladeer – he was part of a satirical cabaret called ‘The Eleven Executioners’ who were always getting into trouble with the authorities for their scathing views on politics. And personally I’m a song-writer. I’ve always loved matching lyrics to rhythms and emotional atmospheres. In fact, the very first thing I wrote for Tilly No-Body was the final song, ‘Tilly Dances’ (which was Frank’s code in his diary for the two of them having sex!) ‘Tilly Dances’ is an ode to their profound love in spite of all their troubles, and Tilly sings it shortly before Frank’s untimely death.
There’s quite a bit of music in Tilly No-Body, as our German composer, David Roesner, and I have been collaborators for some years now, and it’s such a joy to “vibe” with someone’s imagination, sense of humour, and sense of aesthetics. (David, Miles and I actually made a podcast episode called “Collaborative Resonance“.)
How did you make your start in theatre? Do Fringe festivals inspire you?
In my teens, I was in the most brilliant youth theatre – The Swan Youth Theatre, Worcester – run at the time by the incredible John Doyle (who won a Tony with Sweeney Todd on Broadway). One of my fellow youth-theatre compatriots was Rufus Norris – or should I say, Sir Rufus Norris, who’s just wrapping up his tenure as Artistic Director of the National Theatre. So it was a pretty inspiring environment in which to cut one’s theatrical teeth. Then as a student at Birmingham University we took shows every year to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – so that experience is somewhat in my DNA.
Do Fringe Festival inspire? – Absolutely! There’s nothing on the planet like a festival of people all dedicated to live performance. It’s intoxicating! And life- affirming. There’s so much destruction happening on the planet right now, we need that powerhouse of creativity to balance out everything. And the supportive nature of fellow creators, all willing each other on to a successful performance – whether that success means simply the props not “playing up” or the costumes not falling apart or the sound cues coming in at the right place or the lights staying on or whatever it might be – is deeply touching!
Fringe Festivals raise the planet’s global vibrations, I’d say!
What are you looking forward to the most in Edinburgh, and what’s next after Fringe?
A panoply of great-looking shows.
Sharing Tilly’s powerful story with audiences.
Sharing the Edinburgh experience with two of my students and one of my colleagues from the University of California, Riverside, where I’m currently a distinguished professor – and seeing how they experience what I had a taste of as a student.
Working with our terrific producers, Andy Jordan Productions.
Working with my phenomenal husband, Miles Anderson!
Breathing that fresh Scottish air!
Hearing the pipers!
Quaffing a pint of heavy at some point, no doubt!
Patting Greyfriars Bobby on the head (the first time in over 30 years).
And what’s next…? Well, that’s the magic of what the Fringe might unfurl…. Though Miles and I are working on a show in Malta in November looking at Shakespeare’s portrayal of marriage entitled If You Will!, and inspired by my mentor, Tina Packer’s phenomenal Women of Will. Tina is in her 80s now, but I wouldn’t put it past her to perform it in Edinburgh some day.
Like I say, you’re never too old to share your story. And thank you, LouReviews, for giving me this opportunity to share mine!