Admittedly, there's a section of the population that would consider hanging around Central Park's public toilets a pretty good time. But for those who don't subscribe to Larry Craig's idea of recreation, Irish-theatre import Ladies & Gents offers up more socially acceptable — yet equally lurid — thrills in the most private of public spaces.
Based on a political sex scandal that captivated 1950s Dublin, Ladies & Gents is a site-specific piece staged in the public restrooms of Central Park's Bethesda Terrace. Upon arrival, the audience is divided into two groups — half enters the men's room and half takes the women's — with each group witnessing a different 20-minute act. After a brief intermission, everyone switches bathrooms.
Crammed in cheek by jowl, audience members closely hug the rows of stalls and urinals as they piece together playwright Paul Walker's seamy period snapshot of prostitution, extortion, and murder. In the dim yet precisely lit and frigid men's room, a high-profile john prepares for a bit of commode canoodling, while in the cavernous women's room, a hooker conspires with a photographer to catch her client in an incriminating clinch.
Ladies & Gents skillfully exploits the prurient and foreboding mood of its surroundings, evoking a sense of danger while blurring the line between the public and the private. And with the recent barrage of sexual bombshells coming out of Albany, the play's commentary on political hypocrisy and the legislation of morality couldn't be more perfectly timed. But Ladies & Gents relies a bit too heavily on its noir mood; with its uneven acting and spotty writing, the play is (luckily) overshadowed by its surroundings. But perhaps that's missing the point of Ladies & Gents, which successfully creates a fully immersive event outside the walls of a traditional theatre, ahem, facility.
Presented by the Irish Arts Center in association with Georganne Aldrich Heller and Semper Fi (Ireland) at the Bethesda Fountain Toilets in Central Park (enter at W. 72nd St.), NYC. March 20-29. Mon.-Sat., 7, 8, and 9 p.m. (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com. Casting by Paul Davis/Calleri Casting.
