Broadway? Nah, Let’s Use a Bathroom!
In what has got to be the oddest venue I’ve ever heard of, a group of actors are performing an award-winning play in the Bethesda Terrace bathrooms in Central park.
The appropriately-named Ladies & Gents, by Irish playwright Paul Walker, is actual more topical than it had expected to be. It’s about pious politicians who dally in prostitution on the side – set in Dublin of the 1950’s.
Why a bathroom? Well, why not? The space is “intimate, unpretentious, and uncomfortable,” which I guess is a good thing…”There’s a reason plays aren’t put on in bathrooms all the time — you have to really want to be there to make it happen,” says Walker.
Getting permission to show it there took a lot of paperwork, including a direct letter to Mayor Bloomberg. Governor Spitzer was not involved, apparently, and that’s a good thing; one wonders if it would have hit too close to home.
Whatever the reason, it’s going well – the performances are sold out, and will continue through March 29th.
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