 |
| Yes, There were Mean Girls in the 1930's Photo: Michael Brunk |
I confess I had never been to a Lesbian-Themed Play (It isn't like I have tried), but when that said-play is a bonafide American Classic written by the Controversial and Brilliant, Lillian Hellman that was turned into a Mildly-successful film led by 2 giants (Audrey Hepburn and Shirley Maclaine) in the code breaking 1960's (1961 to be exact). Of course, I am talking about the Children's Hour, that was stage by Arouet at the Ballard Underground this past weekend.
The last time I was at the Underground was for Ghostlight Theatricals production of 'Rope" another Early Gay themed play that was adapted in a Hollywood Film. There is something about the Underground and how you feel are in a speakeasy and transported into the time when being Gay or Lesbian was a mental illness.
The Children's Hour is a 1934 stage play written by Lillian Hellman. It is a drama set in an all-girls boarding school run by two women, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie. An angry student, Mary Tilford, runs away from the school and to avoid being sent back she tells her grandmother that the two headmistresses are having a lesbian affair. The accusation proceeds to destroy the women's careers, relationships and lives.
The play was first staged on Broadway at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in 1934, where it ran for over two years, and in 1936 it was put on at London's Gate Theatre Studio and Dublin's Gate Theatre. This was Hellman's first hit play. At the time, any mention of homosexuality on stage was illegal in New York State, but the play was such a success and so widely praised by critics that the rule was not enforced, according to Wiki.
