photos above: Graham Fudger, Nick Cowell, Hock Khoe, Dee Conway
read about past shows further below ... and check out these interviews:
Read about Peta Lily's long career in this Total Theatre interview.
Inspirations and insights about Lily's work in Sorcha Ra's 50 over 50 interview.
Scroll below for highlights from the show archive.
Peta Lily Company on YouTube here
Parker Dee on YouTube here
Read about Peta Lily's long career in this Total Theatre interview.
Inspirations and insights about Lily's work in Sorcha Ra's 50 over 50 interview.
Scroll below for highlights from the show archive.
Peta Lily Company on YouTube here
Parker Dee on YouTube here
My show at Crazy Coqs was a blast.
Join Peta Lily's mailing list or FOLLOW
@parkerdeeking for news of future gigs!
NEWS: Parker and Peta are interviewed by Mae Riot on her Screaming Twenties podcast (Spotify and Acast). Bonus - you can hear Parker's first duet.
PARKER DEE: SENSITIVE GUY
9.15pm 28th February 2024
Funny, stupid, relevant
Parker Dee is Dee-licious. He’s a caring, sensitive guy – wrangling his privilege, mother worship and father issues. Watch him sissy his cis and serenade the menstrual cycle. Cringe as he turns audience members into his Dee-ciples. Thrill as he wrestles patriarchy into submission using song, dance and snazzy outfits.
Parker began life as digital project – to get a taste of Parker, see the video clips ‘Dee-licious’ ‘Trying Game’ and ‘Period Piece’ on YouTube:
Parker on YouTube: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Instagram: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Facebook: @parkerdeeking
Audiences say:
‘Parker dares to go where no other cis man can.’
‘A tiny baroque opera of micro-managed self-sympathy’
‘Illuminating - allowed me to re-think some of my own '59 year old white male' assumptions.’
‘Razor-sharp, grounded and hilarious - fantastic show!’
‘Tremendous!!!! Coool charming and direct.’
‘Hot and on the edge. This is what the world needs.’
‘Hilarious, mesmerising. Also wow! the songs!’
'Politically important because his well-meant misguided intentions make us sharpen our own.'
'Frikkin hilarious!'
Digital Parker
Parker Dee is a unique entity and a force of nature. He has so much to say on so many subjects. He is directed by Peta Lily and Timothy Michael Dodd. Parker is a King among men (a Drag King). He records songs and free-association stand-up - all rolling out on his YouTube
channel - so he's also King of Content, you're welcome!
Actual people actually said these actual things:
‘Literally genius – very, very funny’, ‘Sexy and funny’, ‘I LOVE Parker’, ‘Parker Dee is the man!’, ‘I am totally blown away by him. An incredible creation.’, ‘Very stupid, strange and clever.’, ‘Parker dares to go where no other cis man can.’, ‘A tiny baroque opera of micro-managed self-sympathy, expecting praise just for realising he hasn’t earned it.’, ‘Illuminating - allowed me to re-think some of my own '59 year old white male' assumptions.’, 'The YouTube clips are brilliant! Funny, creepy and funky-danceable! I love when Satire is fun.', 'This is frikkin hilarious!' ‘The videos made me cry with laughter - awesome! They say so much that's unsayable!’
Like, follow & subscribe on Youtube, you know the drill!
Take a look at Parker Dee's videos!
Parker on YouTube: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Instagram: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Facebook: @parkerdeeking
#dragking #sensitiveguy #spokenword #pink #parkerdeeking #king #gentle #caring #awesome #humble #stupid #yeah #hispinkness #dream #dreamer #fantasy #delusion #dude #pinkformen #parkerdee
Thanks to my collaborators: Timothy Michael Dodd, Robert Golden, Di Sherlock and Andie Scott. Also to Kelly Burke, Dana Blackstone, Joey Robinson, Holly Burt, Roy Nicolson, Pete Baynes, Phil Saunders, Steve Taylor, Maud Madlyn and Andrès Zuluaga (it takes a village to raise Parker Dee). If you want to encourage Parker's exploits (and snazzy clothes) go here.
Join Peta Lily's mailing list or FOLLOW
@parkerdeeking for news of future gigs!
NEWS: Parker and Peta are interviewed by Mae Riot on her Screaming Twenties podcast (Spotify and Acast). Bonus - you can hear Parker's first duet.
PARKER DEE: SENSITIVE GUY
9.15pm 28th February 2024
Funny, stupid, relevant
Parker Dee is Dee-licious. He’s a caring, sensitive guy – wrangling his privilege, mother worship and father issues. Watch him sissy his cis and serenade the menstrual cycle. Cringe as he turns audience members into his Dee-ciples. Thrill as he wrestles patriarchy into submission using song, dance and snazzy outfits.
Parker began life as digital project – to get a taste of Parker, see the video clips ‘Dee-licious’ ‘Trying Game’ and ‘Period Piece’ on YouTube:
Parker on YouTube: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Instagram: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Facebook: @parkerdeeking
Audiences say:
‘Parker dares to go where no other cis man can.’
‘A tiny baroque opera of micro-managed self-sympathy’
‘Illuminating - allowed me to re-think some of my own '59 year old white male' assumptions.’
‘Razor-sharp, grounded and hilarious - fantastic show!’
‘Tremendous!!!! Coool charming and direct.’
‘Hot and on the edge. This is what the world needs.’
‘Hilarious, mesmerising. Also wow! the songs!’
'Politically important because his well-meant misguided intentions make us sharpen our own.'
'Frikkin hilarious!'
Digital Parker
Parker Dee is a unique entity and a force of nature. He has so much to say on so many subjects. He is directed by Peta Lily and Timothy Michael Dodd. Parker is a King among men (a Drag King). He records songs and free-association stand-up - all rolling out on his YouTube
channel - so he's also King of Content, you're welcome!
Actual people actually said these actual things:
‘Literally genius – very, very funny’, ‘Sexy and funny’, ‘I LOVE Parker’, ‘Parker Dee is the man!’, ‘I am totally blown away by him. An incredible creation.’, ‘Very stupid, strange and clever.’, ‘Parker dares to go where no other cis man can.’, ‘A tiny baroque opera of micro-managed self-sympathy, expecting praise just for realising he hasn’t earned it.’, ‘Illuminating - allowed me to re-think some of my own '59 year old white male' assumptions.’, 'The YouTube clips are brilliant! Funny, creepy and funky-danceable! I love when Satire is fun.', 'This is frikkin hilarious!' ‘The videos made me cry with laughter - awesome! They say so much that's unsayable!’
Like, follow & subscribe on Youtube, you know the drill!
Take a look at Parker Dee's videos!
Parker on YouTube: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Instagram: @parkerdeeking
Parker on Facebook: @parkerdeeking
#dragking #sensitiveguy #spokenword #pink #parkerdeeking #king #gentle #caring #awesome #humble #stupid #yeah #hispinkness #dream #dreamer #fantasy #delusion #dude #pinkformen #parkerdee
Thanks to my collaborators: Timothy Michael Dodd, Robert Golden, Di Sherlock and Andie Scott. Also to Kelly Burke, Dana Blackstone, Joey Robinson, Holly Burt, Roy Nicolson, Pete Baynes, Phil Saunders, Steve Taylor, Maud Madlyn and Andrès Zuluaga (it takes a village to raise Parker Dee). If you want to encourage Parker's exploits (and snazzy clothes) go here.
'Topless' reboot 2017:
Totally in awe of @peta_lily #topless! I'm lost for words. Go see her and be transformed by her story #fangirl - @LucyAveryWrites
Went to see @petalily "Topless" in Hackney last night, on marriage break-up, a younger lover, breast cancer, a parent's death, all served up with panache, flair and a tantalisingly wicked wit! A masterclass in physical #comedy, #comic timing, the female voice and emotional honesty. - @Lucylovescircus on Instagram
LucyLovesCircus blog review click here.
Blog post on the making of here.
Totally in awe of @peta_lily #topless! I'm lost for words. Go see her and be transformed by her story #fangirl - @LucyAveryWrites
Went to see @petalily "Topless" in Hackney last night, on marriage break-up, a younger lover, breast cancer, a parent's death, all served up with panache, flair and a tantalisingly wicked wit! A masterclass in physical #comedy, #comic timing, the female voice and emotional honesty. - @Lucylovescircus on Instagram
LucyLovesCircus blog review click here.
Blog post on the making of here.
Imperfection 2014
Courageous honesty and big subjects discussed with a light, sharp touch. Crackling rhythmic verse and Lily's intimate performing presence plunges audiences in to an all-waving, all-drowning look at inner and outer life where the mundane is revealed to contain the mythic. Dionysian worship rubs shoulders with a Hymn to Blasphemy and Charles Bukowski meets Japanese outsider art. Dive in!
incisive and inventive wit … guiding her audience away from unnecessary sentiment but not losing a sense of poignancy - The Scotsman
'smart, witty, funny, clever & thought provoking' ● 'hit me in all the right places' ● 'astounding'
Photos by Robert Piwko here.
poster portrait: Lindsay Maggs,
overlay image (original by Colin Watkeys)
Chastity Belt - solo show 2012-16
Funny and provoking show set on the battle ground between trust and lust. Part comic confession, part one-woman Lysistrata. Directed by Di Sherlock (‘The World’s Wife’).
Enchanting, funny and poignant. Lily deals skillfully with women's issues which are not spoken about enough – Chastity Belt is edgy, charismatic, witty and thought provoking. Linda Marlowe
Peta Lily … one-woman whirlwind. Chastity Belt is as up-the-wall as it is on-point … personal, historical, mythical and rhythmically raunchy. Localiize, Hong Kong
Check it out yourself on the Youtube Channel.
LucyLovesCircus blog review from the 2016 run at Lion & Unicorn click here
photo: Jake Mc Lellan, graphics, Jamie Zubairi
iN/Vocation - solo show 2010-14
Lily talks about how she gave up performing and went on a journey that was simultaneously spiritual and commercial. Cathartic and positive. Directed by Di Sherlock. Produced in 2014 by Giant Olive Theatre Company, originally produced by the ladida group run by Jimmy Jewell.
This is a touching, funny, informative and very warming show. Remote Goat
Poignant … moving ... a lot of fun. Lily is a deeply skilled performer, equally adept at lampooning corporate caricatures, singing seductively, changing character instantaneously and all the while making a serious point … Lily has a way of reflecting very sharply this modern complexity. Adam E Smith, online reviewer
surprisingly honest … incredibly dynamic … provocative … a wild adventure into a strange world. James Waygood whatspeenseen.co.uk
photo: Nick Cowell
Lily talks about how she gave up performing and went on a journey that was simultaneously spiritual and commercial. Cathartic and positive. Directed by Di Sherlock. Produced in 2014 by Giant Olive Theatre Company, originally produced by the ladida group run by Jimmy Jewell.
This is a touching, funny, informative and very warming show. Remote Goat
Poignant … moving ... a lot of fun. Lily is a deeply skilled performer, equally adept at lampooning corporate caricatures, singing seductively, changing character instantaneously and all the while making a serious point … Lily has a way of reflecting very sharply this modern complexity. Adam E Smith, online reviewer
surprisingly honest … incredibly dynamic … provocative … a wild adventure into a strange world. James Waygood whatspeenseen.co.uk
photo: Nick Cowell
Show Archive
MiDRiff - solo show 2002-2003
Stand-up theatre - about 'choices and chakras, courage and cowardice, flesh and blood and bellies.' UK and Hong Kong. Directed by Jen Heyes.
Calling Peta Lily’s act stand-up comedy is like describing the Bank of China Building as an office block or Miles Davis a trumpeter … Lily’s polished performance is Fringe theatre at its best. South China Morning Post
For those uninitiated in the world of theatre, Peta Lily is just about the sexiest solo performer about. This ‘crackpot glamourpuss’ mixes comedy, confession, song and sassiness in a truly compelling performance … never fails to entertain. Make sure you catch her next time she is in town. Live Magazine
photo: Graham Fudger, Graphics Jamie Zubairi
Stand-up theatre - about 'choices and chakras, courage and cowardice, flesh and blood and bellies.' UK and Hong Kong. Directed by Jen Heyes.
Calling Peta Lily’s act stand-up comedy is like describing the Bank of China Building as an office block or Miles Davis a trumpeter … Lily’s polished performance is Fringe theatre at its best. South China Morning Post
For those uninitiated in the world of theatre, Peta Lily is just about the sexiest solo performer about. This ‘crackpot glamourpuss’ mixes comedy, confession, song and sassiness in a truly compelling performance … never fails to entertain. Make sure you catch her next time she is in town. Live Magazine
photo: Graham Fudger, Graphics Jamie Zubairi
Topless - solo show 1999-2000
Stand-up theatre - about 'life and death and love and hate and sex and sticking plaster and breasts.' UK, Greece, Australia.
a macabre comic style...her accounts of failed relationships, low self-esteem, and her brush with breast cancer...are both hilarious in their frankness and moving. ..with her consistently high energy and warm, engaging stage presence, Peta Lily captures and maintains the attention of her audience throughout. Total Theatre
a talented comic, she takes the departure of her husband and the illness and death of her mother and turns them into something which is not just entertaining, but is even funny Edinburgh Evening News
a refreshingly comic, intelligent and informative exploration of the turbulent events in one woman's life crisis...consistently funny...Lily recounts her experiences with an incisive and inventive wit...guiding her audience away from unnecessary sentiment but not losing a sense of poignancy The Scotsman
instead of erotica, Lily gives her audience something far more outrageous and personal ... told with consistent humour. Lily has lightness of touch, instinctive wit ... one of those rubber faces ... and a silky singing voice. Lily manages ... to keep them laughing right up to the end. The Stage
Do see her perform her uniformly funny, yet unabashedly realistic play about ageing, breasts, cancer, sex, music, movies, life and death. Totally HK (Hong Kong)
Solo Shows 1983 - 1988
One of the main forces of the Physical Theatre movement in Britain, Lily toured as a soloist with many Arts Council funded productions: Red Heart 1983, Whole Parts 1984, Frightened of Nothing 1987, Wendy Darling 1988 (FRINGE FIRST, Edinburgh Festival), Hiroshima Mon Amour 1991. Always breaking new ground, Lily writes and performs original works combining her talents as actor with elements of dance, Commedia, mime and world theatre, while always seeking to entertain her audiences.
a mesmerising performer City Limits
(Hiroshima Mon Amour is) about the end of the world and the power of kitsch...extremely funny Time Out
wistful, enchanting and wonderful The Scotsman
Subtly sexy, legitimately violent and ultimately haunting Time Out
Bold, gutsy and a brave new adventure in style The Stage
pure unashamed enjoyment and socially relevant satire Spare Rib
something of a crackpot glamourpuss: she makes up her own rules Time Out
Peta Lily & Co Shows: Beg! 1992 & Low Fidelity 1993
Beg! - a two-handed physical theatre thriller, drawing on the influences of Cocteau, Cronenberg and Almadovar, a lurid piece about a female psycho-killer, haunted by the tale of Red-Riding Hood. Arts Council funded.
Peta Lily's tour de force probes the dark recesses of the mind where sexual fantasies take root, fed on a diet of popular culture. Compelling, inventive, magic, shocking The Independent
very haunting ... (Lily is) always a hypnotically demanding performer City Limits
a compelling piece of theatre, visually stunning and beautifully written Edinburgh Evening News
Low Fidelity - a two handed farce with breakneck dialogue, live sound effects, stage fighting and biting satire. A married couple behaving badly - their lives and careers explode when they come into contact with a voluptuous person called Gloria. Arts Council funded.
Electric ... raunchy ... manic energy ... funny where it hurts ... the kind of entertainment that gives physical theatre a good name The Guardian
Lily has also performed with Claire Dowie in All over Lovely and with the David Glass Ensemble in Popeye and Gormenghast
Stand-up theatre - about 'life and death and love and hate and sex and sticking plaster and breasts.' UK, Greece, Australia.
a macabre comic style...her accounts of failed relationships, low self-esteem, and her brush with breast cancer...are both hilarious in their frankness and moving. ..with her consistently high energy and warm, engaging stage presence, Peta Lily captures and maintains the attention of her audience throughout. Total Theatre
a talented comic, she takes the departure of her husband and the illness and death of her mother and turns them into something which is not just entertaining, but is even funny Edinburgh Evening News
a refreshingly comic, intelligent and informative exploration of the turbulent events in one woman's life crisis...consistently funny...Lily recounts her experiences with an incisive and inventive wit...guiding her audience away from unnecessary sentiment but not losing a sense of poignancy The Scotsman
instead of erotica, Lily gives her audience something far more outrageous and personal ... told with consistent humour. Lily has lightness of touch, instinctive wit ... one of those rubber faces ... and a silky singing voice. Lily manages ... to keep them laughing right up to the end. The Stage
Do see her perform her uniformly funny, yet unabashedly realistic play about ageing, breasts, cancer, sex, music, movies, life and death. Totally HK (Hong Kong)
Solo Shows 1983 - 1988
One of the main forces of the Physical Theatre movement in Britain, Lily toured as a soloist with many Arts Council funded productions: Red Heart 1983, Whole Parts 1984, Frightened of Nothing 1987, Wendy Darling 1988 (FRINGE FIRST, Edinburgh Festival), Hiroshima Mon Amour 1991. Always breaking new ground, Lily writes and performs original works combining her talents as actor with elements of dance, Commedia, mime and world theatre, while always seeking to entertain her audiences.
a mesmerising performer City Limits
(Hiroshima Mon Amour is) about the end of the world and the power of kitsch...extremely funny Time Out
wistful, enchanting and wonderful The Scotsman
Subtly sexy, legitimately violent and ultimately haunting Time Out
Bold, gutsy and a brave new adventure in style The Stage
pure unashamed enjoyment and socially relevant satire Spare Rib
something of a crackpot glamourpuss: she makes up her own rules Time Out
Peta Lily & Co Shows: Beg! 1992 & Low Fidelity 1993
Beg! - a two-handed physical theatre thriller, drawing on the influences of Cocteau, Cronenberg and Almadovar, a lurid piece about a female psycho-killer, haunted by the tale of Red-Riding Hood. Arts Council funded.
Peta Lily's tour de force probes the dark recesses of the mind where sexual fantasies take root, fed on a diet of popular culture. Compelling, inventive, magic, shocking The Independent
very haunting ... (Lily is) always a hypnotically demanding performer City Limits
a compelling piece of theatre, visually stunning and beautifully written Edinburgh Evening News
Low Fidelity - a two handed farce with breakneck dialogue, live sound effects, stage fighting and biting satire. A married couple behaving badly - their lives and careers explode when they come into contact with a voluptuous person called Gloria. Arts Council funded.
Electric ... raunchy ... manic energy ... funny where it hurts ... the kind of entertainment that gives physical theatre a good name The Guardian
Lily has also performed with Claire Dowie in All over Lovely and with the David Glass Ensemble in Popeye and Gormenghast
Photo: Douglas Robertson
Wendy Darling - solo show.
'Wendy Darling' revisits J.M. Barrie's haunting 'Peter Pan' from the point of view of a grown-up Wendy, returning to her childhood nursery. The real-life inspirations for the boys all died in the great war. Wendy Darling looks at the beauty and the violence of Neverland, loss, death and tells a tale of impossible love.
Premiered at Theatre Workshop in Edinburgh winning a Fringe First that year and later performed in Netherlands and up and down the UK including Winchester Gantry, Salisbury Arts Centre and the ICA London. Created by Peta Lily andRex Doyle. Character-relevant Choreography by Kate Dalton. Lighting Design by Samantha Lee. Soundtrack by Nick Dwyer.
Subtly sexy, legitimately violent and ultimately haunting Time Out
wistful, enchanting and wonderful The Scotsman
‘Mime, dance, music and the spoken word fuse to produce a vivid … sometimes frightening picture … totally enthralling … well-conceived, well-directed, and brilliantly performed’ Salisbury Journal
Coming soon to the YouTube Channel
'Wendy Darling' revisits J.M. Barrie's haunting 'Peter Pan' from the point of view of a grown-up Wendy, returning to her childhood nursery. The real-life inspirations for the boys all died in the great war. Wendy Darling looks at the beauty and the violence of Neverland, loss, death and tells a tale of impossible love.
Premiered at Theatre Workshop in Edinburgh winning a Fringe First that year and later performed in Netherlands and up and down the UK including Winchester Gantry, Salisbury Arts Centre and the ICA London. Created by Peta Lily andRex Doyle. Character-relevant Choreography by Kate Dalton. Lighting Design by Samantha Lee. Soundtrack by Nick Dwyer.
Subtly sexy, legitimately violent and ultimately haunting Time Out
wistful, enchanting and wonderful The Scotsman
‘Mime, dance, music and the spoken word fuse to produce a vivid … sometimes frightening picture … totally enthralling … well-conceived, well-directed, and brilliantly performed’ Salisbury Journal
Coming soon to the YouTube Channel
