I Am My Own Wife, a one-man play based on the life of German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf -- a transgender and founder of the Gründerzeit Museum in Berlin, and who survived the Nazi and Communist regimes -- will be playing on a Bangkok stage starting on Friday.
Presented by Peel the Limelight studio in Asok, I Am My Own Wife is helmed by director Jaime Zúñiga, whose previous directorial credits include the productions of The Importance Of Being Earnest in Vietnam and God Of Carnage in Taiwan. The play stars James Laver, a graduate from the Oxford School of Drama, who has previously appeared in Bent, How I Learned To Drive, and, as Lent, in The True History Of The Tragic Life And Triumphant Death Of Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman In The World -- for which he won an International Association of Theatre Critics Thailand award in 2015.
During the 90-minute show, Laver will bring to life more than 30 characters in a tour de force performance.
I Am My Own Wife is based on writer Doug Wright's conversations with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The play premiered off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwrights Horizons and later in Broadway the same year. Wright received a Pulitzer Prize for the script, while the Broadway production won Tonys for best actor and best play.
Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born as Lothar Berfelde 11 years before World War II began, led a life filled with mystery and strife. Some revered her as the iconic Tranny Granny, and her work in preserving the only surviving cabaret from Weimar Republic earned her recognition from the German government. But she also attracted condemnation from the public, for being an informant for the Stasi police during the Cold War.
The German antiquarian passed away in 2002, but her life story continues to live on through the play.
I Am My Own Wife will be performed at Peel the Limelight studio inside the Jasmine City Building in Asok every Friday and Saturday in May at 8pm, starting this Friday. Tickets cost 700 baht for general admission. Visit peelthelimelight.com.
