Award-Winning I Am My Own Wife Heads to the West End
I Am My Own Wife, the Tony-winning solo show that stars Jefferson Mays, will have a West End run. The play will begin a limited engagement at the Duke of York's Theatre on November 4.
Based on a true story, and inspired by interviews conducted by playwright Doug Wright over several years, I Am My Own Wife tells the tale of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a real-life German transvestite who managed to survive the Nazi onslaught as well as the following, repressive Communist regime. The show stars Mays as over 40 characters, including the controversial figure herself and the American writer who becomes intrigued by her.
I Am My Own Wife, directed by Moisés Kaufman, opened on Broadway on December 3, 2003 to positive reviews after an extended run at Playwrights Horizons. It ran there through October 31, 2004. In his Broadway.com of the play, William Stevenson wrote: "It's Mays' superb performance that's responsible for I Am My Own Wife's move to Broadway. He makes Charlotte indelible--a kindly, unassuming preservationist who was above all a survivor… As the saying goes, you can't make this stuff up. Wright didn't, but he did shape it into an engrossing play. And Mays' dazzling performance deserves to be remembered at Tony time."
I Am My Own Wife won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award. Mays also won a Tony for Best Actor in a Play. He has been starring in a tour of the play, which is currently at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.
I Am My Own Wife is scheduled to officially open in the West End on November 10 and close on February 4.
