Coming to the Arcola Theatre, Hackney, from 7th–25th July.

Following an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer, and an anticipated run at the Ludwig-Maximillian University this June, ‘Tilly No-Body’ by Bella Merlin comes to London’s Arcola Theatre in Hackney this summer!

SYNOPSIS

A true story of love, survival and transformation.

In a deserted circus, the true story of actress Tilly Wedekind unfolds in a heartrending performance of virtuosic storytelling.

When Tilly’s controlling husband, the playwright Frank Wedekind – writer of Spring Awakening, which became a hit Broadway musical – takes away Tilly’s acting roles, he reduces her to a nobody and she has a breakdown. Determined to recover, she escapes the relationship and reclaims her career. By writing her story, she asserts her own identity and transforms herself into a somebody, in a journey of personal triumph.

Tilly No-Body confronts vital questions around toxic relationships, co-dependency and the silencing of women’s voices. Informed by writer-performer Bella Merlin’s own experience of surviving coercive domestic violence, the result is a powerful reflection on identity, love, and the transformative power of self-discovery. 

It was showcased at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and received rave reviews and an EFFTA Award at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe. It now makes its London premiere.

You can find more information about the show on the Tilly No-Body website: https://www.tillynobody.com/.

‘‘Well-crafted, fully formed and flawlessly performed
show…”

^{Alan Cranston for ‘Three Weeks’ ★★★★}

BODY-WORD-VOICE 

‘Tilly No-Body’ applies the practises and research of ‘BODY-WORD-VOICE’ to explore the actor-audience relationship in terms of overcoming silence and sharing stories, intertwined with the processes of witnessing/listening and being witnessed/being heard.

• In 2025, Bella Merlin and Annika Speer created ‘Body-Word-Voice’, a practice-as-research initiative founded at the University of California, Riverside. The initiative aimed to offer individuals creative frameworks and mindful practises for navigating the complex experiences of domestic violence.
• BODY-WORD-VOICE uses theatrical performance, actor-training skills, and public-speaking techniques as a means of listening to the body, finding words for the embodied information, and giving voice to those words.
• For more information on Merlin and Speer’s ongoing research, see: https://www.tillynobody.com/body-word-voice.