Wilde women strip for nude classical readings on London stage

12 April 2012

Naked burlesque dancers are reciting books to audiences in London's latest theatrical offering.

The event, called Naked Girls Reading, is popular in the US and Canada and has now received
its premiere in the capital.

In the show, at a Victorian "salon" in Hackney, the women - who go by the stage names Emerald Fontaine, Rubyyy Jones, Tallulah Tempest and Sophia St Villier - undressed to read an audience of 50 extracts from classic novels by authors including Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and Virginia Woolf.

For the less high-brow, there were also readings from Bruce Robinson's Withnail And I and Russell Brand's My Booky Wook 2.

Organisers said next month's event will have a royal theme to mark the royal wedding, with readings from books such as A Little Princess. Future shows will include erotic literature.
Ms St Villier, 26, said they had a positive response to their first UK performance on Wednesday.

She added: "There is something rather romantic about nude nymphs reading great literature."
Audience member Philip Spence, 30, said: "At first I was just looking at the women but after a while you forget they are naked and just concentrate on the stories."

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