Venice Theatre

Actor and script form fine union in ‘Wife’

January 9th, 2010
by Jay Handelman, Herald-Tribune

Wearing just a simple black frock, a scarf and pearls around his neck, Jeremy Heideman becomes more than three dozen people in “I Am My Own Wife” at Venice Theatre’s Stage II.

He makes you believe there are many more actors on stage in Doug Wright’s play about the writer’s effort to get to the heart of the true story of a German transvestite who beat the odds and survived the Nazi and Communist regimes in East Germany.

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf became a celebrity when she was honored by the German government for preserving history in her museum of phonographs, furniture, clocks other items from the late 19th century. Wright was initially intrigued by how she lived relatively comfortably as a man dressing as a woman. But he found there was much more.

His play begins as a testimonial to Charlotte’s inner strength, but becomes more penetrating as he quizzes her about secret police files that suggest she betrayed friends as an informer.

Heideman plays Charlotte, Wright, relatives, Nazis, TV personalities and authorities, giving each one a distinct sound or accent, posture and attitude. There’s never any trouble keeping people apart as he plays two or three people at a time.

Charlotte tells her story with a modest demeanor, often reaching a soft hand to clutch Charlotte’s pearl or to hold and point an imaginary gun of a soldier.

Director Allan Kollar keeps the pace steady, and the story is gripping, even if Charlotte’s manner of speaking can seem slow. What she has to say is so fascinating that you hang on each word.

Kollar has staged the play on an attractive wood-planked set by Kirk V. Hughes that highlights Charlotte’s collection, which speaks to the history she lived and shares with the audience.