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A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Comedy / 3w, 5m
Charles Busch
The turbulent life of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, is told, viewed through the outrageous comic lens of master parodist Charles Busch.
The turbulent life of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, is told, viewed through the outrageous comic lens of master parodist Charles Busch. Evoking both 1930’s Hollywood epics and the grand 19th Century romantic theatre of Sarah Bernhardt, this version of the life of the ill-fated Egyptian Queen takes her from her teenage seduction of the Roman leader Julius Caesar through her volatile tragic romance with Mark Antony and to her ultimate death. Charles Busch’s Cleopatra has echoes of the many great stars that have played her on stage and on film, such as Claudette Colbert, Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh and several who thankfully didn’t, including Jean Harlow, Barbara Stanwyck and Mae West.
Cleopatra premiered at Theater for a New City in New York City in March 2016 under the direction of Carl Andress.
The original production had a cast of eight actors, with several roles doubled. The play can also be performed with a larger cast each playing only one role. Several roles in the original production used cross gender casting. This is not a necessity. What is important is that each role be played with total conviction. The humor must not derive from the role being played by someone of the opposite sex, but from the lines and situation being comic.
Suggested doubling and gender crossed casting: Octavian/ Octavia - played by a woman Caesar/ Calpurnia/ Lepidus - played by a man Apollodorus/ Achmed - played by a man Cleopatra - played by a man
Several locations in Rome and Egypt.
"...always smartly campy, often over-the-top, occasionally very raunchy, and always hilarious — with an infinite all-you-can-eat buffet of priceless lines and situations running throughout." - Huffington Post, Read More
Charles Busch is the author and star of such plays as The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, The Confession of Lily Dare and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom; one of the longest-running plays in the history of off-Broadway. His play The Tale of the Allergist’s ...