Dress Code

The third and final show in our Belwood Summer Theatre season is a Grinder Productions world premiere.

Dress Code is a play set in a totalitarian future, where all forms of personal expression through fashion have been banned, and everyone is forced to wear the same generic, government-approved clothing. A few teenagers form an underground resistance to the Draconian dress laws staging fashion shows in secret, learning from each other about the clothing of days gone by, and guessing at what uses these strange garments might have had to the people of the early 21st century. Hanging over their every movement is the threat that The Fashion Police, the armed gangs of thugs who brutally enforce the Dress Code, will come barging through the door and arrest them at any minute.

If George Orwell had a sense of humour, this is the play he would write. It's light-hearted and, at least by today's standards, incredibly innocent, but it carries some important messages about tolerance, diversity, and the importance of self-expression. If nothing else, there's plenty to laugh at.

The play marks the directorial debut of Becky Branton, last seen as the Co-Director for Dulcitus, the first play in our Ennotville season. Branton is no stranger to the Belwood stage herself, having last appeared in our first-ever play in Belwood, the smash hit The Melville Boys. She brings ample experience both inside and outside Grinder, as well as her unique ability to find humour in almost any situation, so I'm looking forward to seeing what she will come up with in rehearsals.

Dress Code runs August 20th to 22nd at the Belwood Hall. Please call 519-780-7593 for tickets, or get them online at www.grinderproductions.org.

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