The Knitting Pattern is a new play written by Deborah Nash.

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A deathbed reverie, set in18th Century France where ruined aristocrat Purl, meets the Three Fates/Les Tricoteuses. Purl requests these crafters of destiny to restore her pattern of lifelong privilege, disrupted by the French Revolution.

The play conveys the rigid and ritualised nature of society through the activity of knitting and the fashion codes of the time, exploring the idea of patterns, what it is that governs our behaviour, suggesting that we might not be as free as we think.

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The design mixes elements from contemporary catwalk fashion, haute couture and Vivienne Westwood with inspiration from 18th Century French fashion and Marie Antoinette herself. Some actors have quick changes and double between the Fates and high status French Aristocracy. With one character playing a direct homage to the infamous Chevalier d'Éon, an early cross dresser from the period.