The Madness of Lady Bright
Encyclopedia
The Madness of Lady Bright is a short play by Lanford Wilson
, among the earliest of the gay theatre movement. It was first performed at Joe Cino
's Caffe Cino in May 1964 and went on to tour internationally, appearing in revivals to the present day. It has been cited as the first Off-Off-Broadway
production to receive mainstream critical attention, and earned its original lead actor, Neil Flanagan, an Obie
award. The play, substantially a monologue
delivered by its aging drag queen
protagonist, has been characterized as among the first to portray gay characters in an unsensational way, and as one of the last of Wilson's oeuvre to make substantial use of experimental devices before his adoption of a more realist approach.
Wilson wrote the play during slow shifts while working as a receptionist at the Americana Hotel (today the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
) in New York. Responsible for the low-traffic night-time reservations desk, he had ample time to produce his manuscript on the hotel's typewriter, an experience he likened to Tennessee Williams
's practice of writing while working selling subway tokens from a booth. A desk-clerk colleague of his at the Americana was purportedly among the inspirations for protagonist Leslie Bright. Wilson cited his dislike of the play Funnyhouse of a Negro, by Adrienne Kennedy
, as among his influences in writing the work:
Leslie Bright, who reflects on the passions of his life - both his own attempts at self-invention, modelled on such iconic figures as Miss America
, Judy Garland
, and Venus
, and the encounters and loves that have shaped him. As the play progresses, Bright - alone in his New York room on a hot summer's day - descends gradually into madness.
Journalist Anne Marie Welsh describes The Madness of Lady Bright as the first contemporary play in which "gay characters were portrayed as humans, not as villains, depressives or deviants", though a similar claim has been made for Doric Wilson
's Now She Dances!, a reimagination of Oscar Wilde
's Salome
, produced three years earlier at the Caffe Cino. Scholars have cited it as among the works that formed the nucleus of the nascent gay theatre movement in 1960s New York, prefiguring such works as Mart Crawford's The Boys In The Band
. Other analysts have contended that, because it treats the characters' homosexuality unsensationally—as background and context, rather than as integral to the play's plot -- Madness should not be considered "a gay play". Critics have seen among its preoccupations both isolation and desperation, and report older, female audience members approaching Wilson to tell him that they construed the play's theme as "not homosexuality but loneliness."
. The establishment's proprietor, Joe Cino, was himself openly gay, and was to become regarded as the father of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement. The producer was Dennis Deegan: Wilson had originally wanted his friend Flanagan to direct the play himself, but when Flanagan expressed a preference for playing the lead part Wilson instead took on Deegan, who had also directed his earlier play So Long At The Fair. Wilson was quickly impressed by the director's interpretation of the text and by his suggestion for music, the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 23
, to accompany the work.
The show was a popular success, Caffe Cino's first significant hit and the first production it was to extend and then revive. It ran for 205 performances before the cafe's closure, following the suicide of proprietor Cino.
The American Theater Project toured the show in Europe during 1966, performing it at Notting Hill
's Mercury Theatre. It has played also throughout the US, in Canada, and in Singapore.
production to receive mainstream critical coverage; it had a positive review in the New York Post
and was later covered by the Village Voice, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, inter alia. The Voice called the play "poignant and funny", possessed of "more than routine interest". The Boy and Girl characters, it felt, where too "smoothly generalized" to succeed, but overall it deemed the writing strong. Later critics compare protagonist Leslie Bright to the fading belles found in the works of Tennessee Williams, suggesting an echo in Bright's final hallucination of doctors coming to inter him of the conclusion of A Streetcar Named Desire
.
The original lead actor, Neil Flanagan, won an Obie
award for his portrayal of protagonist Leslie Bright.
Lanford Wilson
Lanford Wilson was an American playwright who helped to advance the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
, among the earliest of the gay theatre movement. It was first performed at Joe Cino
Joe Cino
Joseph Cino , was an Italian-American theatrical producer and café-owner. The beginning of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement is generally credited to have begun at Cino’s Caffe Cino...
's Caffe Cino in May 1964 and went on to tour internationally, appearing in revivals to the present day. It has been cited as the first Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
production to receive mainstream critical attention, and earned its original lead actor, Neil Flanagan, an Obie
Obie
Obie may refer to:* Bill "Obie" O'Billovich , a former coach in the Canadian Football League* Obie Award, off-Broadway Theater Award* Obie Baizley , Canadian politician* Obie Bermúdez , pop singer and composer...
award. The play, substantially a monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
delivered by its aging drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
protagonist, has been characterized as among the first to portray gay characters in an unsensational way, and as one of the last of Wilson's oeuvre to make substantial use of experimental devices before his adoption of a more realist approach.
Background
The Madness of Lady Bright is among Wilson's earliest produced plays, following Home Free!, and So Long At The Fair. It was the first of his works to present explicitly gay themes, and has been called one of the earliest American plays by any author to focus predominantly on gay material. Critics have noted that the play contains one of Wilson's last uses of such experimental devices as the presence of "unreal" characters, before electing for a more realist style from the mid-1960s onwards. The "unreal" characters here are two figures, named only as Boy and Girl: they both give voice to the criticisms Leslie has encountered throughout his life, and represent a range of dramatis personae - old friends and lovers - whom he recalls.Wilson wrote the play during slow shifts while working as a receptionist at the Americana Hotel (today the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers is a hotel located in New York City near Times Square. Its addresses are on 7th Avenue, West 52nd Street, and West 53rd Street. At 501 feet , it is one of the world's top 100 tallest hotels, and one of the tallest hotels in New York City. It has 51 floors. It was...
) in New York. Responsible for the low-traffic night-time reservations desk, he had ample time to produce his manuscript on the hotel's typewriter, an experience he likened to Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
's practice of writing while working selling subway tokens from a booth. A desk-clerk colleague of his at the Americana was purportedly among the inspirations for protagonist Leslie Bright. Wilson cited his dislike of the play Funnyhouse of a Negro, by Adrienne Kennedy
Adrienne Kennedy
Adrienne Kennedy is an African-American playwright and was a key figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She is best known for her first major play Funnyhouse of a Negro....
, as among his influences in writing the work:
Themes
The play constitutes a monologue delivered by the titular aging drag queenDrag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
Leslie Bright, who reflects on the passions of his life - both his own attempts at self-invention, modelled on such iconic figures as Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, and Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
, and the encounters and loves that have shaped him. As the play progresses, Bright - alone in his New York room on a hot summer's day - descends gradually into madness.
Journalist Anne Marie Welsh describes The Madness of Lady Bright as the first contemporary play in which "gay characters were portrayed as humans, not as villains, depressives or deviants", though a similar claim has been made for Doric Wilson
Doric Wilson
Doric Wilson was an American playwright, director, producer, critic and gay rights activist.He was born Alan Doric Wilson in Los Angeles, California, where his family was temporarily located. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he was raised on his grandfather's ranch at Plymouth, Washington on...
's Now She Dances!, a reimagination of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
, produced three years earlier at the Caffe Cino. Scholars have cited it as among the works that formed the nucleus of the nascent gay theatre movement in 1960s New York, prefiguring such works as Mart Crawford's The Boys In The Band
The Boys in the Band
The Boys in the Band is a 1970 American drama film directed by William Friedkin. The screenplay by Mart Crowley is based on his Off Broadway play of the same title, Crowley penned a sequel to the play years later entitled The Men From The Boys...
. Other analysts have contended that, because it treats the characters' homosexuality unsensationally—as background and context, rather than as integral to the play's plot -- Madness should not be considered "a gay play". Critics have seen among its preoccupations both isolation and desperation, and report older, female audience members approaching Wilson to tell him that they construed the play's theme as "not homosexuality but loneliness."
Production
The play opened in May 1964 at Caffe Cino in New York's Greenwich VillageGreenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. The establishment's proprietor, Joe Cino, was himself openly gay, and was to become regarded as the father of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement. The producer was Dennis Deegan: Wilson had originally wanted his friend Flanagan to direct the play himself, but when Flanagan expressed a preference for playing the lead part Wilson instead took on Deegan, who had also directed his earlier play So Long At The Fair. Wilson was quickly impressed by the director's interpretation of the text and by his suggestion for music, the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 23
Piano Concerto No. 23 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major is a musical composition for piano and orchestra written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was finished, according to Mozart's own catalogue, on March 2, 1786, around the time of the premiere of his opera, The Marriage of Figaro...
, to accompany the work.
The show was a popular success, Caffe Cino's first significant hit and the first production it was to extend and then revive. It ran for 205 performances before the cafe's closure, following the suicide of proprietor Cino.
The American Theater Project toured the show in Europe during 1966, performing it at Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
's Mercury Theatre. It has played also throughout the US, in Canada, and in Singapore.
Reception
As one of the first plays to depict an explicitly gay protagonist, the work was characterized by some commentators as shocking even to the avant-garde (and predominantly gay) audiences at Caffe Cino. Other accounts, though, have stressed its role in moving gay plots and characters into the mainstream of theatre culture: the show was also the first Off-Off-BroadwayOff-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
production to receive mainstream critical coverage; it had a positive review in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and was later covered by the Village Voice, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, inter alia. The Voice called the play "poignant and funny", possessed of "more than routine interest". The Boy and Girl characters, it felt, where too "smoothly generalized" to succeed, but overall it deemed the writing strong. Later critics compare protagonist Leslie Bright to the fading belles found in the works of Tennessee Williams, suggesting an echo in Bright's final hallucination of doctors coming to inter him of the conclusion of A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
.
The original lead actor, Neil Flanagan, won an Obie
Obie
Obie may refer to:* Bill "Obie" O'Billovich , a former coach in the Canadian Football League* Obie Award, off-Broadway Theater Award* Obie Baizley , Canadian politician* Obie Bermúdez , pop singer and composer...
award for his portrayal of protagonist Leslie Bright.