(no subject)

[skygiants]

If you are currently in Boston, you have one week left to go see Or at the Chelsea Theater! As aamcnamara put it on Twitter, "it is the Restoration queer bedroom farce spy writing-themed play of your dreams."

Or features three cast members, playing, respectively:
- former spy and ambitious playwright Aphra Behn
- Charles II of England and also Aphra Behn's ex-lover double agent William Scot
- Nell Gwyn, and also Aphra Behn's elderly and extremely cranky maid, and also in one memorably stamina-requiring and scene-stealing monologue Lady Mary Davenant, manager of the Duke's Company of theatrical players

Most of the play takes place in Aphra Behn's apartment, with cast members popping in and out of side rooms as Aphra Behn vainly attempts to keep all her love interests separate AND ALSO thwart a hypothetical plot on the king's life AND ALSO and most importantly finish writing the final act of her career-launching play by a deadline of 9 AM the next morning! Which nobody will let her do! Because they keep wanting to make out with her and/or tell her about plots on the king's life! It's all very frustrating!

The dialogue is delightful, the actors do a fantastic job rattling out natural-sounding rapid-fire iambic pentameter, I laughed aloud at the final plot twist, and the ending contains a solid dose of much-appreciated optimism; it's an extremely enjoyable experience and one I would strongly recommend.

Comments

[kore]

Wow, that sounds amazing.

[skygiants]

IT WAS SUCH A DELIGHT and now I need to go read a book about Aphra Behn.

[scintilla10]

Ahhhh, I'd dearly love to see this play!! (I've read about it before, but it's never been produced at a theatre near me). It has so many things I love! Restoration plays! Aphra Behn! Spies and plots! Queer themes! Sex jokes! Iambic pentameter!

[skygiants]

Yes, it is seriously like Liz Duffy Adams went down a checkbox of 'things relevant to my interests' and gleefully ticked them all!

[legionseagle]

Please tell me this company are bringing it to Europe.

[skygiants]

WE CAN BUT HOPE.

[jjhunter]

THIS IS VERY RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS and I live in Boston! Thank you so much for the timely rec!

*emails a dozen friends about going to see it next weekend*

[skygiants]

OH GOOD, you are very welcome! come back and tell me how you liked it! :D

[jjhunter]

I definitely will! I have now acquired my ticket for the very last show, and added another dozen friends to the email chain where I attempt to lure people to come with me and also have dinner beforehand. Only 18 tickets left! DON'T THINK, JUST GET ONE AND COME!

Anyway, even if I end up going by myself, I am really looking forward to going, which is a gift to help me get through this particularly grueling work week.

Thank you again for the wonderful rec!

[jjhunter]

IT WAS AMAZING, thank you so, so much for the rec! Ended up going with three other friends; given how small the theater is, we were a sizeable portion of the sold-out house.

If it hadn't been the very last showing, I'd be very tempted to go see it a second time.

[ambyr]

This played locally back in April with an entirely uninspired and uninspiring blurb. WHY did no one describe it this way to me when I still had a chance to see it? Hmph.

[skygiants]

That is a crying shame! I hope it comes back near you in the future and you have a chance to see it, I think you would enjoy it enormously.

[aamcnamara]

IT'S SO CHARMING I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I have been turning over the more serious/political moments in my mind, because they never really get a conclusion or even an arc per se, but on the other hand putting more emphasis on them (even enough to make an arc plot) would have made it a quite different play. (And also I think they may have cut some of the script? I vaguely remember there being more about play titles when I read it, anyway, possibly a whole bit with Aphra trying to figure out what to name her play.)

[skygiants]

Yeah, I think I like the light-handedness of it -- I think it's just enough to make the joy and humor of it feel more significant. Like, the play reminds you that it does know that awfulness exists even and that it could be grim if it so chose, and then very pointedly and deliberately chooses optimism anyway.

(I would believe they trimmed some of it to get it tighter -- is it always intermission-less, do you know, or is that a Chelsea Theater thing?)

[larryhammer]

Too late to nominate it for Yuletide this year ...

[cinaed]

Oh man, I am SO glad you got to see Or!

It's honestly one of my favorite plays! I've seen it twice, once at a community college and another local theater, and it was amazing both times. I wish more people had seen it so I could nominate it for Yuletide next year.