A true story of love, survival and transformation

Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love makes its London debut after winning an Edinburgh Festival Fringe Theatre Award, being chosen as ‘Pick of the Fringe’, and receiving rave reviews at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. This one-woman play is written by and stars Bella Merlin and is directed by Miles Anderson.

‘Performed with precision and pathos’ THE SCOTSMAN

In a deserted circus, drama, humour and song tell the true story of actress Tilly Wedekind. Tilly had a huge success playing Lulu, the groundbreaking woman’s role created by Frank Wedekind, the writer of Spring Awakening - later made into the hit Broadway musical. She became Frank’s wife and leading actress. But jealous of her success, Frank robbed Tilly of her acting roles and reduced her to a nobody. Her career halted, and broken-hearted, she attempted suicide. Determined to recover, she left Frank, reclaimed her career, and by writing her own story reasserted her identity and transformed herself into a somebody in a journey of personal triumph.

Informed by performer Bella Merlin’s own experience of being trapped in a coercive and violent relationship, this heart-rending performance of virtuosic storytelling confronts vital questions around toxic relationships, co-dependency and the silencing of women's voices, to reflect on identity, love and the transformative power of self-discovery.

“It took me ten years to finish translating Tilly’s autobiography from the German. Doing so inspired a passion project, a journey into the depths of what it means to love another person with all one’s being. I felt an uncanny connection to Tilly - I think I fell in love. I yearned to turn ‘Tilly Who?’ into ‘Tilly Somebody’. When we share personal stories on stage, we empower audiences to share theirs. Live theatre then becomes a safe place in which anyone can be seen and heard - where anybody can become a Somebody.”  ​       ELLA MERLIN

The play unfolds over three days as the poison Tilly takes to try and end her life corrodes her body. In a dream-like way, her life flashes before her, from her first meeting with Frank in 1905 to his death in 1918, and her subsequent reinvention. 

Weaving together ideas from Wedekind, Brecht and Stanislavsky, with extracts from Tilly's autobiography, letters between Tilly and Frank, snippets from his plays, and original text and songs, the play invites us into a world of love, loss, theatre and desire. 

This internationally acclaimed play has toured in the USA, South Korea, Germany, and was showcased at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.