A combined talk and film programme exploring the 'bed trick': an enduring motif of disguise, desire and deception from ancient myth to modern cinema. Organised with Izabella Scott, author of The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial (2026). 

In its simplest form, characters go to bed with one person, only to wake up with another. From Greek myth and the Bible to Shakespeare and film, the plot turns on darkness, disguise and the revelation of desire.

The season opens with a discussion of Izabella Scott’s book of nonfiction, The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial (2026), which examines sexual deception in law and literature, centring on the recent trials of a British student convicted of ‘rape by deception’, after her best friend claimed she had been tricked into sex by someone she believed to be a man. A conversation between Scott and film scholar Lucy Bolton will explore intertwined themes of sex, desire, and performance, delving into the cultural history of the ‘bed trick’ and its far-reaching implications in literature and law today.

A companion film programme, curated in collaboration with Emily Wright, explores the ‘bed trick’ as a site of desire, fantasy and revelation. Three pivotal films – Sylvia Scarlett (George Cukor, 1935), M. Butterfly (David Cronenberg, 1993) and sex, lies, and videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989) – unsettle the boundary between truth and performance, lover and impostor, consent and illusion.

The programme invites reflection on archetypes that populate ‘bed trick’ tales, and how these figures surface in twentieth-century American cinema, revealing how film both produces and perpetuates cultural narratives of sex, deception and identity – myths that continue to shape collective understanding within the courtroom and beyond.

The films probe the entanglements of sex and lies, where acts of disguise and mistaken identity become playful or perilous forms of self-invention, and where espionage, voyeurism and confession expose the shifting boundaries of intimacy and desire.

Programme


Book Launch: The Bed Trick by Izabella Scott
Wed 18 Mar, 7pm
Izabella Scott and film scholar Lucy Bolton discuss The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial, exploring sexual deception, desire, identity, and the cultural history of one of literature’s oldest plots.


Bed Trick Film Programme: Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Sun 22 Mar, 4:30pm
A queer cult classic that playfully explores disguise, desire and mistaken identity, starring Katharine Hepburn.


Bed Trick Film Programme: M. Butterfly (1993)
Thu 26 Mar, 8:30pm
A provocative, lesser-known gem in David Cronenberg’s oeuvre, M. Butterfly entwines love with deception, espionage and fantasy.


Bed Trick Film Programme: sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Sun 29 Mar, 8:15pm
A Palme d’Or winner and indie classic, sex, lies, and videotape examines intimacy, deception and performance within contemporary relationships.