Wearing the Trousers

A musical-hall style play telling the true story of cross-dressing music hall star Vesta Tilley, performed by Bristol theatre collective Seizing The Day Company.

Seizing The Day Company performs 'Wearing The Trousers', a show tracing the life of Vesta Tilley, born Matilda Alice Powles in 1864, who became England's highest-earning woman as a cross-dressing music hall star and later a WW1 recruitment figure before retiring to Monaco. The story is told with anecdotes, songs and flashbacks, using original music and songs from Vesta Tilley's playbook, moving between her later years in Monaco and her theatre debut aged five in 1869. The Bristol-based collective specialises in giving opportunities to mature professional performers.