I think my first encounter with the writing of Liz Duffy Adams was as part of the writing staff for Serial Box’s (now Realm’s) four seasons of Ellen Kushner’s Tremontaine (the prequel audiobook series to Kushner’s “Riverside” fantasy series). I really enjoyed her episodes (but that’s a whole different blog post at some point). She’s been a playwright for far longer than I’ve been aware of her, and I began seeking out her published scripts, many of which are neo-Restoration or touch on that period.
I finally got to see a live performance of one of her works when Red Bull Theater produced a reading of OR (retitled Or, What She Will) at the Sheen Center Shiner Theatre in New York City on May 6, 2024 (yes, I’m behind on my theater reviews. Forgive me.) The reading was directed by Gayle Taylor Upchurch, and featured Kelly Curran as Aphra Behn, b as Nell Gwynne and others, and Santino Fontana as King Charles II and others.
This was an incredibly fun, high-energy evening. All three actors were wonderful; I was extra impressed when I found out they’d only had one rehearsal, that afternoon. They made effective use of a handful of props, including masquerade masks, and b and Fontana were a master class in transforming from one character to another, sometimes mid-sentence, through body language and vocal inflections. Fontana’s King Charles II and William (a former lover and fellow spy of Aphra’s) were equally earnest and slimy; b’s Nell Gwynne was sexual and sensual, her Maria the epitome of hapless and long-suffering. At the center of it all, Kelly Curran’s performance as Aphra Behn was captivating.
For those who may not know, Aphra Behn was a poet and former spy for King Charles II during his exile. She was one the first English women to make a living by writing, moving into playwriting after her time as a spy. Some of her early life is shrouded in mystery, as is whether she actually went to debtor’s prison and who paid off her debts to free her. She did eventually go to work for the King’s Company and the Duke’s Company, theatrical troupes that would have brought her into contact with famed actor Nell Gwynne.
OR attempts to answer some of the questions of Behn’s adult life in the form of a neo-Restoration comedy, postulating romantic/sexual liaisons between Behn and King Charles II, Behn and Nell Gwynne, and giving a possible origin point for the affair between Nell Gwynne and King Charles II. There’s lots of bedroom farce type comedy, characters being shuffled from room to room or being forced to hide in wardrobes to keep them from seeing each other, as Aphra Behn tries to juggle not just visits from three different present and former lovers but also from Aphra’s elderly servant woman Maria and from Lady Davenant, patroness of the Duke’s Company, from whom Aphra hopes to secure work after being released from debtor’s prison.
I can only imagine what a fully staged production of OR would look like, with all the slamming of doors, hiding in wardrobes, and quick costume changes with two actors playing the majority of the roles. During the reading, the cast did a wonderful job of implying all of this physical comedy without much in the way of actual movement.
The script allows for the possibility of Lady Davenant, who enters in a breathless rush and delivers a two-and-a-half-page monologue without pause before sweeping out again, to be played by either of the performers who are not playing Aphra. In the reading, Santino Fontana delivered the energy and the comedy perfectly – although as is the nature of readings, he lost his place mid-monologue and turned finding it again into a bit that had the audience laughing along with him.
OR, set in the 1660s, is particularly topical right now, dealing as it does with, as the program notes state, “a cyclical view of history: against a background of drawn-out wars and a fervent counter-culture of free love, gender fluidity, political optimism and pastoral lyricism…” that we’ve seen in the 1960s and are seeing currently. Written during the early years of the Obama administration, it feels even more contemporary in the political climate of Fall 2024.
If you can find a performance of OR in your area, I highly recommend seeking it out. I may as well also mention here that Liz Duffy Adams’ Born with Teeth, about the professional and personal relationships between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, is playing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival through the fall. I have yet to read the script or see a production, but it sounds as interesting as OR.
A full list of the works of Liz Duffy Adams can be found on her website.
I’ve always loved live theater, and in the past couple of years I’ve been making a stronger effort to see more of it. Theater Thursday is a new occasionally series where I talk about live theater, both shows I’ve seen recently and shows I’ve loved in the past.