Naked Girls Reading plan royal event

The Naked Girls Reading burlesque troupe has announced a royal-themed follow-up to its recent show at a Victorian salon in Dalston, East London.

Last week, Sophia St. Villier and colleagues Emerald Fontaine, Ruby Jones and Tallulah Tempest read from works by Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, William Blake, Virginia Woolf, Bruce Robinson, Russell Brand and others for An Ode to London.

The foursome follow up their European premiere with A Very Royal Reading on April 20, to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

St. Villier told 21stcenturyburlesque: "Naked Girls Reading combines two of my passions - literature and beautiful, naked women.

"There is something rather romantic about nude nymphs reading great literature - it harks back to when books were shared and read aloud as entertainment before television."

She added to Metro: "We use burlesque performers because they are just more comfortable with nudity. But it is not a burlesque show because there is no striptease element.

"The women come on, disrobe so that they are totally naked apart from their shoes and jewellery, and then pick up a book.

"After a few minutes a lot of the audience ends up forgetting that the women are naked and they just enjoy the readings."

One attendee reportedly told the newspaper: "I'd definitely come again."

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