ERNEST Boulton was the son of a stockbroker, and since he was a boy he liked to dress in with woman's clothing.

He led a strange life which ended with a lonely death and was one half of the notorious Victorian cross dressing duo Fanny and Stella.

His alter ego Stella Clinton was hailed as she frequented the West End but ultimately led to him being dragged before a judge as she was linked to scandalous affair with aristocrat and Liberal Democrat MP Lord Arthur Clinton.

Appearing in the dock proudly wearing women's clothing, the case became a sideshow with large crowds gathering outside the Old Bailey.

Before the trail began, the lord died and its speculated he committed suicide, and Stella was acquitted as the jury found there was nothing in the law which prevented a man from wearing women's clothing.

"I have known Stella's story for a very long time," says Neil Bartlett OBE, the show's writer and director. "This show is not a history lecture it is an encounter with this extraordinary person.

"The Stella the audience are going to meet is Stella at the end of her life. I was fascinated by this extraordinary idea of living and passing as a woman for so much of her life, on the British variety circuit, on Broadway, and in a high profile court case when she was only 21, she was on the front page of every newspaper in the country, but she died as a man."

It is documented that in Stella's last days she was admitted to the National Hospital in Queen Square under the name Mr Ernest Boulton.

"I was very struck by that, what was that like?" muses Bartlett.

It is from this question which spawned his new production, titled simply Stella, which makes its world premiere at the Brighton Festival, exploring concepts of gender and what it truly means to be yourself.

The production uses two performers on an empty stage as it takes a haunting look at the dual identity of Ernest and Stella enduring their final days.

"What was it like on the last day when she took the journey to be admitted to hospital?" says Bartlett. "What was it like to put on a pair of trousers and got as Ernest? She must have just thought 'who the hell am I?' and that is the starting point of our story."

But while the truth of Stella's life is well documented, Bartlett is keen to emphasise "this is not a biopic".

"I feel this is a story you could not make up," says Bartlett. "In Victorian times in the West End of London he went out as a woman? Surely that is impossible, but no not at all.

"It is a chance to tell that extraordinary story, but it is a chance to let that story speak to us now because Stella asks us all a question, 'are you living your own life or someone elses?'

"What does it take to really be yourself and live as yourself?"

Actors Oscar Batterham and Richard Cant Moray play the scandalous and glamorous duel rules of Stella and Ernest respectively in an intimate production.

The show begins with the curtain rising and nothing but a chair and a man sitting and waiting.

Stella and Ernest address audience directly as they live out their final days alone, with no one there but those in the stalls.

With questions of gender and identity more prevalent than ever, Bartlett says "We are at a fascinating point where the very question of how far you can go to live your own life is more wide open that ever".

He adds "When I grew up we had two very strictly labelled boxes, straight and gay, that was it, but we have reached a point where I think it is a fantastic thing to simply call people by their names.

"Who knows and who is right to judge someone. We should relate people's faces to their names and to their lives.

"That is one of the messages Stella is bringing to us from over one hundred years ago.

"It is about who you are, not what label society puts around your neck."

Stella

Theatre Royal Brighton, New Road, Friday, May 27, and Saturday, May 28.

8pm, from £12.50. Call 01273 709709.