Written and performed by Bella Merlin, and directed by Miles Anderson (her husband and collaborator), Tilly No-Body is based on the story of Tilly Wedekind, an actress alone in a deserted circus.
She was real, and vibrant, and trapped in a toxic relationship with her husband, Frank Wedekind (author of the Lulu plays, perhaps best known for the portrayal on the silent screen by Louise Brooks).
To give this play its full title, this is Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love. For Bella Merlin, playing Lulu herself brought her to the story of Tilly, who is often a footnote in the history of her husband’s career.
With props and musical instruments scattered in a circus ring, this play is deeply physical and with songs (music by David Roesner) dripping in dark desire and perverse pleasure. Merlin inhabits the space with a sense of mania and vulnerability.
Despite the complexity of Frank and Tilly’s marriage, this play is about getting inside the skin of Tilly Wedekind, born in a trunk and deconstructed through a series of costumes. There is rarely a moment of silence and the effect is intoxicating.
In Tilly No-Body there is puppetry, magic, and music, while Tilly’s decision to marry this man and subsume her identity in his remains fascinating.
This is not your regular stage biography, but instead a knowing performance of what lies behind the facade we all play out of doors. Merlin is a performer who clearly likes to take risks and explore methods of communication.
We are all invited into Tilly’s cabaret of devotion and dedication. A one-woman piece that blends monologue, performance, and artifice. We know everything about Tilly that she wishes to tell us.
Whether this is the whole truth is left open. Her story is one felt by many wives late in the 19th century and well into the 20th. Merlin underlines this by having Tilly kiss a portrait of her husband while repeating her marriage vow ‘to obey’.
But there’s a quiet power in this circus. Where does actor end and character begin?
And if you want to see the absolute last word in multitasking, watch out for around the halfway point!
4 stars.
Tilly No-Body is at the Edinburgh Fringe until 24 Aug (Bramley, Gilded Balloon, Appleton Tower). Tickets available at https://www.edfringe.com/.
With thanks to Bella Merlin for sending me a previous recording of this production so I can review it in tandem with her live Edinburgh Fringe run.