The Changing Room

‘Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.' - Virginia Woolf Anna is in her sixties with her dream job and the man to match. Claire is a fourty-six-year-old philanthropist with a picture-perfect family. And then there is Molly, who has seen more strife in her twenty years than anyone should, but has more love to give than most. When their lives are turned upside down, these women must discover how to start over amid a world of pain. Guided by Suitability, a clothing an styling service for disadvantaged women, Anna, Claire and Molly find the courage to rebuild their lives – with a few outfit changes along the way. Inspired by the experiences of the women behind the charity Dress for Success, The Changing Room proves that sometimes losing everything leads you towards freedom, and that hope can be found even in the unlikeliest of places.

"David Storey is a writer who genuinely extends the territory of drama" (Guardian) The Changing Room: "It's about exactly what it is: Storey offers us, with an unforced tenderness, the shifting moods of everyday experience...the scene is busy, purposeful and exhilerating. You'd never imagine realism could be this theatrical...The Changing Room takes you into its world in a way few plays achieve." (Independent on Sunday)

Happily married, great career, mother of two. What more could a woman possibly want? Enter The Change Room, by award-winning writer Karen Connelly, and find out. Eliza Keenan is the mother of two young sons, the owner of a flower studio that caters to the city's elite, and the loving wife of a deliciously rumpled math professor named Andrew. She's on the move from dawn until her boys are in bed, and after they're asleep she cleans her house. Her one complaint about her life is that the only time she has for herself is her twice-weekly swim in the local community centre pool, where sunlight shines in through a tall window and lights up the water in a way that reminds her of the year she spent as a footloose youth on an island in Greece. Then one morning into this life that is full of satisfactions of all kinds except sexual (because who has the time or the energy once the kids are asleep?) comes a tall, dark and lovely stranger, a young woman Eliza encounters at the pool and nicknames 'the Amazon.' The sight of this woman, naked in the change room, completely undoes Eliza, and soon the two of them are entangled in an affair that breaks all the rules, and threatens to capsize not only Eliza and her happy family, but her lover's world, too. And yet the sex is so all-encompassing, so intimate, so true...how can it be bad? Be ready to be shaken up, woken up, scandalized and deeply stirred.

The answers to these questions - and much, much more - are to be found in The Changing Room , which traces the origins and variations of theatrical cross-dressing through the ages and across cultures. It examines: * tribal rituals and shamanic practices in the Balkans and Chinese-Tibet * the gender-bending elements of Greek and early Christian religion * the homosexual appeal of the boy actor on the traditional stage of China, Japan and England * the origins of the dame comedian, the principal boy, the glamour drag artiste and the male impersonator * artists such as David Bowie, Boy George, Charles Ludlam, Dame Edna Everage, Lily Savage, Candy Darling, Julian Clary and the New York Dolls. Lavishly illustrated with unusual and rare pictures, this is the first ever cross-cultural study of theatrical transvestism. It is a must for anyone interested in cross-dressing, theatre, and gender.

In a certain department store there's a fitting room that can suddenly change a man into a woman.In "Women's Wear," Ford is frustrated with how long his girlfriend takes to pick out new clothes. When he goes into the changing room, he comes out as an attractive young woman. Soon he realizes that being a woman isn't as easy as he thought.In "Bridal Wear," Chad has been unwilling to pop the question to his girlfriend Miranda. Then he goes into the changing room and is turned into a gorgeous bimbo named Chastity. When Chastity meets an older gentleman, though, she soon learns the hard way about commitment.And in "Maternity Wear," Todd has been reluctant to have a baby with his wife, Rory. When he goes into the changing room, he comes out as a woman in her third trimester! Soon he's experiencing the aches, pains, and cravings of pregnancy. But will he really have a baby? And what will happen to him once he does?This gender swap novel is 54,000 words.

A lyrical piece about existing on the cusp and all the inevitable questions and confusions that come with it.

Drama set in a men's changing room before, during and after a semi-pro Northern England rugby league football game.

As a young girl in Sydney, Rachel pays more attention than she perhaps should to a cartoon character who accesses different personas on separate adventures each time he goes into the changing room of a London costume shop. Then at an opportune moment the owner of the shop taps the gentleman on the shoulder, excusing him to go back to being himself. In her early twenties, Rachel sets off for London with the aim of having a few adventures of her own. But unlike her childhood character, life irrevocably changes for Rachel once she leaves the safety and familiarity of home. Does she become the victim of a mysterious mental health illness while she is in Israel and Egypt, or is something else at play? Rachel is forced to accept there’s no coming back from some adventures, and that coming to terms with reality is perhaps her only real chance of accessing the life she craves most. ‘Belinda Cranston beautifully captures the pluck and longing as well as the sadness and bewilderment of her young adventurer: she knows so little about the world and dares to want so much. The Changing Room is a haunting story about the messiness of life and about travel as it once was, yet still can be, both profound and life changing.’ — Peter Bishop