The Tease of Truth: Seduction, Verisimilitude (?), and Spectatorship in I Am My Own Wife

Abstract

Doug Wright's play I Am My Own Wife (2003) made a commercial and critical Broadway smash out of the unlikeliest heroine: the dead, German, notoriously untrustworthy transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. After reviewing Charlotte's pre-Wife phenomenology, this article explores the dramaturgical techniques through which Wright kept mass audiences invested in the spectacle of a purportedly "real" protagonist whose life and persona were built upon detectable lies. Charlotte's hold over audiences has powerful resonance for our understanding of the nature of spectatorship, particularly the verisimilitude expected of, if only partially delivered by, the one-person biodrama.

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