Randy was my loving partner of 32years' cousin! We are shut-ins due to physical limitations, as such I never got to see this performance in person... WOW!!! I have never seen Randy in this persona (though we have seen his plays & performances before) Bravo!!! Masterful, convincingly executed, brilliant, I am humbled by his characterization in this role!!! Randy off stage was a big, quiet, courteous, respectful, honorable, honest man!!! In my attempts to engage him in conversation I only had to mention movies or music and he would open right up and relate stories and trivia like no other!!! The man was a walking talking encyclopedia of all things show business (tech also, but that flew over my head) and was always very generous in sharing his knowledge!!! We loved Randy very much and miss him terribly, his calm, solid, compassionate presence is not replaceable..... We were fortunate to have known him for his too short performance here on the stage of life!!! RIP........ 🎼📽️🎥🎭🎤🎵🎶
You know what? My mistake! I thought this was the performance of this play by Randy Nott... He also performed this work... I wondered how he had lost so much weight and the accent is not quite right! Sorry for any confusion I apologise for my lack of attention!!!
Found this on the TTC website: Doug Wright’s one-man play, I Am My Own Wife, explores the remarkable, sometimes conflicting story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (1928-2002): rescuer of furniture, clocks, and historical memories; transvestite; collector of keys and phonographs; political informant; curator of a house museum incorporating a semi-secret, gay-friendly cabaret bar. Wright himself, as chronicler and playwright, is a central character, inviting us to further question and contemplate the very act of ‘collecting’ (he ‘collects’ and exhibits Charlotte’s history, just as she collected and exhibited the cultural artefacts of her museum). Robert Jarman’s Charlotte is warm, compassionate, clever, gently playful, real. He shifts easily, too, between the many other characters of the play, often finding continuity through objects. There’s a quiet eloquence in Annette Downs’s direction, and she and Jarman are a commanding team. The play forces us to accept the shades of grey in Stasi Germany, as Wright struggles to reconcile the blurred evidence of Charlotte’s complicity with Nazi/Communist activity. I Am My Own Wife is incredibly demanding for its solo performer, but much more generous to its audience. With the exception of some occasional excess languor, this production engages completely. In the lovely final moments of Charlotte’s story, Wright observes that he needs ‘to believe her stories, as much as she does’ - and, perhaps, as much as we do. The concluding parallels between furniture restoration and storytelling are unsubtle, yet so lyrical and satisfying… ‘you must save everything’. Anica Boulanger-Mashberg www.prehistory.tastheatre.com/production/review-i-am-my-own-wife
