Experimental electro-cabaret Bild-Lilli is the prequel to Knox's 2007 electro-cabaret Lapdog. It premiered in Melbourne, Australia in Malthouse Theatre’s Helium season in 2012 and was nominated for a Green Room Award for Innovation in Cabaret.

Bild-Lilli presents the true and mercurial fortunes of Lilli — the 1950s German prototype for the Barbie doll.  Savvy, sassy, hard drinking and smoking hot, Lilli began ‘life’ as a tabloid cartoon in the Hamburg newspaper Bild, became a popular German men’s toy, and in a severe twist of ironic economics now delights little girls worldwide. Scheisse!  

Bild-Lilli is an eclectic combination of cutting edge cabaret and punishing physical theatre. It explores with a wry sense of humour just how a hypermodern society can trash even a glamorous lady of fashion. Elena Knox once again offers a dynamic and fascinating portrayal of a naïve yet clued-in icon of femininity seeking valiantly to become her own conquest — to discover and sustain a workable contemporary sense of self. Our heroine grapples with image obsession, celebrity, syntax, the neckline of the dirndl — how much is she responsible for? Bild-Lilli’s quest involves her hilariously learning how to sue, after she finds out that identity theft is a crime and cloning is barely legal, and that the price paid by the Mattel corporation for her DNA (Doll’s Nether Attributes) was an absolute swindle. She becomes a plastic, schizophrenic Erin Brokovich, and finally represents herself against herself in court, campaigning simultaneously for intellectual property crackdowns and global free markets, wearing, of course, her law suit.

Bild-Lilli is created, performed and composed by Elena Knox with design and composition by Lindsay Webb and lighting and technical invention by Phil Downing.

Bild-Lilli has received financial assistance from the Besen Foundation and is available to tour.