GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Theatre Review: dressed
Surviving abuse: Lydia Higginson
[Linda Crisafulli]
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
dressed
Battersea Arts Centre
London SW11
VICTIM, survivor, or both? That’s the perennial query when talk turns to those who’ve been through sexual assault and it’s the focus of dressed, 60 minutes of ethereal brilliance which dispenses with labels, reaffirms the nature of recovery and reminds that deep wounds can heal.
There’s flawless choreography, some haunting musical interludes, a little knockabout and daftly surreal humour, along with a prosaic justification for the piece’s creation.
The initial focus is on costume designer Lydia Higginson, 19, when she was held at gunpoint and sexually assaulted during a robbery in a house where she was staying. She suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result, gave away all her shop-bought clothes, retreated to an attic and made an entirely new wardrobe for herself.
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