Break A Leg

For her 2025 Cruise Campaign, Clio Peppiatt once again collaborated with director Elliott Power to create Break A Leg —a theatrical one-woman performance starring Lily McMenamy. Filmed at the iconic Theatre Royal Drury Lane and shot on 35mm film, Break A Leg captures the intricate detail of Peppiatt’s AW25 pieces with a painterly, cinematic quality. Drawing inspiration from Ingmar Bergman’s Cries & Whispers and Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio, the film balances elevated cinematography with moments of playful comedy.

McMenamy embodies a range of theatrical personas—The Mime Artist, The Ventriloquist, The Magician, and The Showgirl—each performed on a grand stage while dressed in Clio Peppiatt AW25 pieces. She also serves as the sole audience member, reacting to each performance with shifting emotions, each transformation unveiling a new facet of her character’s psyche.

Visually, the film embraces the theatrics of the Golden Age of Cinema, drawing influence from Vaudeville, Busby Berkeley musicals, and silent-era storytelling. To enhance this aesthetic, Dorcia Studio was entrusted with producing the film’s title and end cards, meticulously designed in homage to classic cinematic typography and the grandeur of early Hollywood filmmaking. These bespoke cards reinforce the film’s timeless, dreamlike quality, seamlessly tying its visual narrative to the golden age of spectacle and performance.