'The Captive' Opens Tuesday At Physick House As Part Of Fringe Arts Festival
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 1920s play about living with scandalous secrets opens Tuesday at the historic Physick House in Old City.
It was the talk of the town when it opened 90 years ago.
"The Captive" by Edourd Bordet tells the story of the daughter of a French diplomat who's living with a deep, dark secret.
"It's something that we all can relate to--- we all have skeletons in our closets," says Dan Hodge, founding member of the Philadelphia Artists' Collective and director of the play. PAC is known for producing sizzling historical dramas. Hodge says this production builds bridges through time by tackling issues of sex, love, gender and class.
"Because we can view people from the 1920s as recognizably us -- the distance doesn't seem as large," he says.
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The "secret" that is the focus of "The Captive" has spent time on the front page in recent news thanks to the high profile status of LGBT civil rights. During the 1920s, it was so controversial that the mere act of producing a play about this "secret" caused the original 1926 Broadway production to be shut down.
"The entire cast was arrested for indecency," says Hodges, a fact he says made the script more attractive to PAC.
Another intriguing point is the size of the audience; only 35 people are allowed to view each performance, which will take place in two drawing rooms inside the Physick House, which was build in the 18th century and named after Dr. Phillip Syng Physick the father of American Surgery. Like the play, Physick was controversial figure during his time because he was one of the few physicians that stayed in Philadelphia to treat patients during the yellow fever epidemic.
"It's incredibly intimate," says Hodge, "it's wonderful to give the audience an opportunity to be a fly on the wall."
"The Captive" runs Tuesday through September 20th as part of the Fringe Arts Festival. Tickets are $25 and are going fast. More at www.fringearts.com.
