Set in a period of British history - amid an explosion of creativity, personal liberty and sexuality - Dirty Corset is a vulgar, daft and beautiful piece of new work that encapsulates the essence of this sometimes forgotten period in all of its disgusting glory.
We show three tragic strolling players and their world - theatre, disease, sexual desires, the struggle for freedom - through our surreal, silly, modern lens. We use a mix of our own restoration text, with hyper-restoration stylistic movement, interwoven with modern speech, physical theatre, slapstick, dark humour and a very dirty song; We create visually-arresting images by incorporating Restoration costumes into an abstract foam set to create stylised, imaginative settings using a variety of soundtracks and movement. Viscerally through pus and eggs we bring this period of both British and theatrical history to life to resonate with a modern audience. Exploring womanhood, toxic masculinity and the performativity of both their and our age, we illustrate the parallel between then and now, right down to the closing and reopening of theatres as a result of covid/plague. We celebrate the shared, satisfying grossness of being a human, warts, farts, wet fannies, shits and all.
"Our children live in the most deprived ward in London and their parents cannot afford to pay for the classes and activities many more privileged children enjoy after school and at the weekends. A free-to-access youth group run by a local theatre in a professional setting is an incredible opportunity."
Local school teacher
