Playing at The Vaults from the 24th until the 28th January as part of the Vaults Festival, Dietrich: Natural Duty combines theatre, cabaret and drag.
It is 1942, on the battlefields of North Africa, in a gold sequin gown, Marlene Dietrich takes to the stage to launch her own offensive against the German Reich. For the next three years she would fight the war her way, with an irresistible mix of songs, sequins, sex and sympathy.
Created especially for the Vaults Festival, this new show by Peter Groom explores the life of Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich through a combination of music, stories and songs to reveal the Hollywood icon’s extraordinary commitment to duty.
Talking about the show Peter Groom said: “I’m keen to dissect the use of drag in theatre and explore a way in which drag becomes not just a novelty but an important device / tool in order to help tell a story. I’ve assembled a team that have a strong theatre background and a strong theatrical sensibility to make sure the piece has a strong narrative within the cabaret style framework it is presented in. I’m working with multi-award winning director Bethany Pitts (Spine – Soho Theatre), who specialises in new work, both scripted and devised.”
Marlene Dietrich was born in Berlin in 1901 and soon became a Hollywood legend, and the most famous German woman in the world. After World War Two was declared , she was forced to choose between the country that she loved, and what she knew was right. Renouncing her German citizenship, Dietrich joined the American Army and fought against her homeland in order to free her people from Hitler.
Peter Groom is an actor, dancer and choreographer working mainly with dance and theatre. Since graduating from the Guildford School of Acting in 2013, he has worked both in the UK and internationally, with credits including: One Side to the Other (Akram Khan Company), MEAT (Schaubuhne Berlin), Romeo and Juliet and Sherlock Holmes (Aquila Theatre, New York).
Dietrich: Natural Duty will play at The Vaults from the 24th to the 28th January 2018. For more information and to book tickets visit: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/dietrich-natural-duty/