I am My Own Wife

Rarely, very rarely, as a reviewer one sees a play that is sheer perfection both in direction and performance.  This totally engrossing true story from the pen of American Doug Wright, who based the play on his conversations with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, drew one into a world brought stunningly to life by director Val Collins and, in particular, by a mesmeric performance from Steven Mann who inhabited, rather than acted, the role of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf and more than thirty other characters.    To be honest, it is difficult to praise this performance enough.   

It is the story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German male transvestite who owned and ran a museum in Berlin during World War two.    Born in 1928 as a boy Lothar Berfelde, he began to identify and dress as a woman from a very early age.  Steven Mann was dressed throughout as Charlotte in a black skirt and black shirt complemented with a pearl necklace.   A small bust was evidence of his "womanhood", but he wore no wigs as he changed character, keeping to his own grey hair.   How he could change in a second from mild mannered Charlotte into a host of other characters, whether German, American or Russian, both male and female, was a wonder to behold!    Except for a few brief exits, Steven was on stage during the entire play.    The director in her programme notes modestly gave all the credit to Steven - too modest surely!

The set was  a simple upstage row of shelves showing all manner of items intending to convey the feeling of being in a museum - clocks, lamps, books, vases, ornaments, sewing machines etc.   A simple wooden table and chairs were stage right, with a small table down-stage left upon which was an HMV wind-up phonograph, with a the HMV dog on the fourth wall.   

Lighting was cleverly used for each scene portrayed, using the lamps on the shelves at times to great effect.   Full marks to Stuart Yeatman.   The museum was appropriately dimly lit for the most part, while Steven used the stage according to the position of all the characters he played, be it the cruel Nazi father, Nazi soldiers, Americans (including the playwright when Charlotte was much older), Russians and even Charlotte's own lesbian Aunt, who was an important ally and staunch friend to her as she came to terms with her sexuality.    The transformations were simply wondrous and instantaneous and the whole audience was enraptured. There was a stunned silence at the end of the play before the applause, an indication of the audience's total absorption.

Charlotte left home to escape her brutal Nazi father, who would abuse her for her desire to dress as a woman.  While still a teenager she killed him and spent four years in a juvenile prison.   Still very young, she fostered an interest in rescuing furniture and artefacts from Jewish homes plundered by the Nazis and which she was determined to catalogue and preserve.   Despite constant harassment from the Nazis and, much later from the Russian Stasi during the Berlin wall era, she succeeded against all odds in establishing an important museum which became a haven for gay and transvestite people like herself and those whose lifestyle was under physical threat.    Despite her mild manner, she had nerves of steel, which Steven exquisitely demonstrated.

Charlotte became an important figure in the emancipation of gay, lesbian., transvestite and transgender people from tyranny in East Germany and for establishing the famous Grunderzeit museum in Berlin.   She died in 2002 aged 74.

There is little more I can add about Steven's portrayal of so many diverse characters, save to say that it was one of the greatest acting performances I have ever seen anywhere.   When he walked into the Green Room bar after the performance, the whole room applauded in awe.

Stuart Yeatman was responsible for the Lighting and also Sound design.   He is a major force in the artistic success of this wonderful studio theatre holding just 85 seats and to be among so relatively few people who were privileged to see this performance is a memory that will stay with this fortunate reviewer for ever.

Once again, Sue and I were treated royally by this warm hearted and wonderful society.   Truly a memorable evening!

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