DRESSED. Comes to Edinburgh

After premiering at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe to critical acclaim, receiving a Scotsman Fringe First as well as a nomination for ThisEgg for Total Theatre Awards' Emerging Company 2018, dressed. is returning to Edinburgh for the British Council Showcase. The intimate show created by four school friends uses storytelling, live sewing, music, dance and clowning to turn a traumatic experience into something beautiful and resilient; a show about reclaiming one's body, female friendship and the integrity of clothes to identity.

After being stripped at gunpoint, Lydia Higginson sought to redress herself by creating her entire wardrobe from scratch. In 2016, Lydia, a seamstress and costume designer, gave herself a year to make all her own clothes, after which she gave away all those she had ever bought. Friends since school, Josie, a theatre maker, Nobahar, a singer, Olivia, a dancer, and Lydia, took this act of reclamation and self-liberation as the basis of their show to celebrate the healing power of female friendship.

Josie Dale-Jones says, When we took the show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2018, it felt like a month of women being on stage, women putting their work on stage, women putting their lives on stage; a space seemed to have been created for women to express themselves. We were determined to be heard and it felt like the world was open to listening. And it being the #MeToo Fringe we were definitely on trend. Time passes and trends shift. We want to keep the conversations going. Surely these stories, these voices, these shows aren't just being watched because they are fashionable, but because they matter. I hope our time hasn't passed.

ThisEgg is Josie Dale-Jones who self-produces, co-creates & performs shows with a variety of artistic collaborators. ThisEgg makes intimate theatre that connects with audiences, moving them to laugh, cry and imagine; prompting them to ask big questions about the world we live in. ThisEgg devises original work which mixes theatrical styles, celebrating different forms of entertainment. Their former Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows are Me & My Bee, which won the inaugural Les Enfants Terrribles Stepladder Award 2017 & nominated for The Fringe Sustainable Practice Award and Brighton Award for Excellence, and Goggles, which won the NSDF Edinburgh Emerging Artists Award 2016. the egg,Theatre Royal Bath have appointed Josie a Leverhulme Arts Scholar 2019. Also supported by the National Theatre Studio, she is working on a new piece The Family Sex Show (Working Title). ThisEgg won the inaugural Underbelly and New Diorama Untapped Award 2018 for early-mid career theatre companies run by Underbelly and New Diorama Theatre. During their 2019 national tour, ThisEgg and Made My Wardrobe were nominated for a 2020 Offie Award for IDEA (innovative/ devised/ experiential/ atypical) for dressed.

Lydia Higginson, her project, 'Made My Wardrobe' and the reasons behind it is the catalyst for dressed. Lydia has worked alongside directors, producers, technical crew & performers providing bespoke costumes for theatre, dance, circus and live performance. Her credits include working on wardrobe for Sadler's Wells, Tobacco Factory Theatres & Bristol Old Vic. When she is not working on commissions, she teaches others how to sew from her studio Threadworks.

Running Time: 60 mins | Age guideline: 16+

All performances are relaxed performances.

Trigger warning: This show explores themes of rape and sexual assault.

www.pleasance.co.uk | 0131 556 6550

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