Unexpected Edinburgh Fringe Hit Announces London Dates

The team behind one of the surprise hits from this year's Edinburgh Festival, Violet, a one-woman show by Bebe Sanders, is today announcing that they will be bringing the show to London for a total of 18 nights across three different venues. The female-led theatre company, Poor Michelle, which enjoyed success in London and Edinburgh with its productions, Harry, Thick Skin and Decade, will be bringing Violet to Theatre 503 on 29th and 30th of November. Violet will then move to the Bunker for a two week run from the 4th to the 15th of December, before ending its mini-tour of London at the Tristan Bates on the 20th and 21st December.

Violet is a new play about human connection and inter-generational friendships. It quietly explores themes of mental health, dementia, and loneliness without forgetting the often funny and absurd moments of ordinary life. The show had a four star review from The Scotsman and was a festival highlight for respected theatre critic Lynn Gardner who wrote in The Stage, "I have a particular place in my heart for Poor Michelle's quietly haunting Violet" and described the play as, "an understated, unflashy and affecting story of unexpected redemption"

Poor Michelle produce new plays that reconsider clichéd or under-explored narratives. Named in homage to the often overlooked, third member of the girl band Destiny's Child, the female led creative team are on a mission to give the Michelles of this world some of Beyoncé's stage time.

Poor Michelle's first show, Harry, opened at Theatre N16 in April 2016 and then went on to the Kings Head, Streatham Festival and Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe. Their next production, Thick Skin, won them the Buzz Goodbody Director Award and the Samuel French New Play Award at the National Student Drama Festival in April 2017, and then went on to a sell-out performance at the Paines Plough Roundabout in Edinburgh. Both plays were published by Oberon Books. In 2018, as Associate Artists of Theatre N16, they ran a project called Decade with women aged 16 and 26 across the city, exploring the power and place of the female voice over the last ten years.

Bebe Sanders (Writer/ Performer of Violet) joined Poor Michelle as part of Decade. She graduated from the Bristol Old Vic in 2013 and her credits since include Twelfth Night (Orange Tree), Three Winters (National Theatre) and international tours of The Bunker Triology and The Frontier Trilogy (Jethro Compton Productions). Her first play 'Pebbles' had a sell-out run at The Katzspace in October 2017.

Violet's Director Ellie Gauge said, "We are thrilled to be bringing Violet to London after its unexpected triumph in Edinburgh. I'm really proud of the quiet voice of this show and how it's been able to spread a little joy and stir up some hearts without causing a riot. It's about kindness and connection, both of which London seems to be crying out for"

Violet's Writer and Performer Bebe Sanders said, "I'm looking forward to bringing Violet to a London audience and seeing how it's received after Edinburgh. I hope people will find it a quiet antidote to the madness of London living."

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