BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: 4 December 2003

I AM MY OWN WIFE

Doug Wright, the award winning playwright of QUILLS, and director Moises Kaufman, author and director of GROSS INDECENCY: THE THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE, bring to Broadway a true story of survival against incredible odds. After an extended run at Playwrights Horizons last spring, I AM MY OWN WIFE opened at the Lyceum Theatre to a continuance of high praise.

In this one-person play, performed dauntingly by Jefferson Mays, we learn of the fascinating and improbable life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, perhaps one of Germany's most extraordinary characters of Twentieth Century. Born Lothar Berfelde, von Mahlsdorf embraces the transvestite lifestyle after his lesbian aunt introduces him to a book on the subject while he stays with her during the Allied bombing of his native Berlin. Committed to freely expressing his (or her) identity, this cross-dresser miraculously endures under both the Gestapo's and the East German Stasi's noses.

Ironically, Von Mahlsdorf's primary obsession is not her manner of dress. Wearing an austere black frock, modest shoes and a simple string of pearls, she eschews glamour for gravity. In fact, she comes off more like a pilgrim than anything else. Von Mahlsdorf's most intense passions are reserved for her collection of antiques; in particular Victrolas and gramophones from the "belle epoch" years of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Von Mahlsdorf's life is a whirlwind extraordinary events. She kills her Nazi father while he lay sleeping, escapes from prison amidst Soviet bombs, runs a gay bar in her basement, runs a museum in her basement, and is later honored for her remarkable tenacity by the newly unified German government.

Jefferson Mays delivers an unforgettable performance playing not only the enigmatic von Mahlsdorf, but dozens of other character as well. The most developed of these is the author himself. Wright methodically establishes that I AM MY OWN WIFE is a story about getting at the truth. When his character learns that von Mahlsdorf supplied information to the secret police, this strains the relationship between subject and author and turns the story in on itself.

Mays is blessed by working within Derek McLane's ideal set which communicates a sense of bleakness against a backdrop of ornate museum pieces, lushly drenched in David Lander's lighting. Janice Pytel's costumes are effectively drab. And, Kaufman's firm hand can be felt throughout. I AM MY OWN WIFE, a compelling study of an inveterate survivor laid out in a well-structured, thought-provoking drama.