Three plays, all beautifully written and astonishingly original in viewpoint and structure, depict different interpretations of the theme of women moral making choices.
The first play, Tango Noir takes place in October 1917, shortly before the execution of Marguerite Zelle for treason. Better known as Mata Hari, Zelle had once taken Paris by storm with her exotic dancing and, more recently, had been pursuing a successful, albeit stormy, career as a courtesan. In the play, Zelle interacts with the French novelist and actress Colette, dreams that it is she who is Mata Hari struggling with a surreal version of herself played by a male actor who also shifts into embodiments of Mata Hari’s jailor and Colette’s real life husband.
Bête Blanche, written as a companion piece for Tango Noir, depicts a woman, Faye, who is at an earlier stage of self-determination than Colette in Tango Noir. The structure in each play is a mirror image of the other, with the whole forming a sort of theatrical diptych on the struggle for spiritual integration.
In Preservation Blues, the third play in the collection, a young photographer Cass, examines photographs she recently took in a surreal and ephemeral New Orleans. A series of voices slip in and out of her narration, with imagery and tales that underline the protagonist’s rapidly increasing moral decay.
Tango Noir
Keywords: Individuation, integration of the psyche, Gertrude Zelle, Cheri, dreamscape
Year Printed: 2012
First produced in 1988 by Maenad Productions, Calgary.
Running Time: 35 minutes
Acts: 1
Male Cast: 1
Female Cast: 1
Bete Blanche
Keywords: integration of the psyche, the shadow, struggle with the self
Running Time: 35 minutes
Acts: 1
Male Cast: 1
Female Cast: 1
Preservation Blues
Keywords: Moral choice, integration, individuation, New Orleans, tatooing, weird tales
Suitable for School Performances: Students age 16+
Running Time: 35 minutes
Acts: 1
Male Cast: 2
Female Cast: 3