SmartShanghai | Stage Review: I Am My Own Wife

Stage Review: I Am My Own Wife

By Frances Arnold, Oct 14th, 2011 | In Stage

As roles go, they surely don't get much more challenging than this. In 3rd Culture Theatre's latest offering, Doug Wright's award-winning, I Am My Own Wife, the supremely talented Charles Mayer plays some 40-odd roles, deftly flitting between accents, and seamlessly switching swarthy American man to aging German transvestite, all with apparent ease. With a storyline that spans some sixty years, multiple characters, not to mention lines in both German and English, I Am My Own Wife was an ambitious choice for the still fledgling theatre company, but pleasingly one that they've pulled off with aplomb, thanks largely to Mayer's extraordinary dexterity as an actor, as well as sensitive directing by Jonathan Geenen.

Based on the American playwright's conversations with German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde, the piece tells the story of the transvestite's rise from troubled youth to national - and ultimately questionable -- heroine, via detention for murder, accusations of being a Stasi spy, and ultimate fame. It's a remarkable tale, fabulous even -- and all the more so for being at least largely based on fact. Adding an extra dimension to proceedings, Charlotte's personal history and rise parallels a fall -- specifically that of the Berlin wall, uniting a nation still reeling from its recent history and embroiled in the hangover of the Cold War.

A passionate preserver of the old, Charlotte dedicated much of her life to safeguarding the various objects and household trappings from the time of Germany's Second Reich, eventually founding the Gründerzeit Museum in her East Berlin home. Mayer paints a vivid picture of Charlotte in her antiquarian den, lovingly caressing tables and cabinets, gently tending to a magnificent gramophone, all the while taking enormous pride from the amassed treasures. Prim, restrained and feminine in his movements, Mayer's vision of an aging transvestite is a believable one, avoiding the pitfalls of clichéd and camp.

In terms of this vivid scene-setting, Mayer gets more than a little help from the play’s venue: normally used as creative office space, Chai Living’s Ateliers are beautifully designed, eclectically furnished, and wonderfully evocative of an altogether more elegant era. As a space, it’s intimate too, making for an apt setting for a work exploring a woman’s attachment to her home, and also the relationships established and nurtured therein. But it also -- and importantly -- matches the intimacy of Charlotte’s and Wright’s numerous and meandering conversations, as well as the memories and stories they brought to light, ranging from the heartbreaking, the harrowing and the humorous.

To take I Am My Own Wife as the story of Charlotte alone misses the richness and complexities of the various strands and histories Wright pulls together in this remarkable piece of theatre. You’ve got issues surrounding homosexuality and gender, male friendship and identity, and of course, preservation of the old; all set against a backdrop that shuffles between Nazism, Communism and Cold War suspicions; riddled with passion, rumour, and, sometimes, heartache. In short, there’s a lot going on.

Mayer owns not only the stage, but also each and every character he embodies, with Wright's complex work acting as an ideal vehicles for his considerable talent. Ambitious and insightful, I Am My Own Wife is well-worth a look, and certainly one of the more engaging productions to hit the Shanghai stage in quite some time.

Tickets are priced at 250rmb (including a glass of wine), or 450rmb with dinner -- for purchasing info and show details, get in touch with 3rd Culture Theatre at tickets.3CT@gmail.com or call 139 1787 0959. The show is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, this weekend and Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23.

Tagged: Stage