Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Multiple O - But Will It Play in Peoria, uh, Madison?

I was pleased to see that a play entitled Multiple O, written and directed by playwrite John Sable, is currently being staged in of all places, Madison, Wisconsin. It is based on the seminal polyamory book written by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt (pen name of Dossie's partner, Janet Hardy) called The Ethical Slut.

Yesterday critic Bruce G. Bradley panned it - he clearly couldn't find much in the way of redeeming qualities. Of course, he's just one critic, and as you may see if you read the comments already made to this post, apparently what wasn't mentioned is that Bradley has a track record for panning Broom Street productions and many others in the Madison area. Also the play has been standing room only for much of its run to date, and that's great news. I hope it makes its way to the east coast so I get a chance to check it out.

I stand corrected and am glad that I do! Thanks, anonymous.

Dossie and Janet tell us they are in the process of authoring a second edition of the Ethical Slut that should be out in another year of so, in which they include poly communication exercises and an online polyamory resource list. Definitely something to look forward to.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What wasn't mentioned is that Bruce G. Bradley has panned every Broom Street production in recent memory and almost every production in Madison that is put up in a black-box theater. The other item not mentioned in his retch-fest of a review is that the play has been standing room only for almost every performance.

You do the play a great disservice by linking it to Bruce G. Bradley's poison pen. Cunning Mynx (www.polyarmoryweekly.com) was in attendance at the same show. I'd hold out for her review. Bruce G. Bradley's review was most likely written before he even walked in the theater's door.

Anita Wagner Illig said...

I knew nothing about the guy pro or con when I wrote the post. I did point out that he's just one critic.

Thanks for sharing his track record and the info on the attendance.

It's not my desire to do anyone a disservice, ever, least of all to anything connected to the Ethical Slut. I'll update my post with this new info.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anita,

My name is Kyrsten and I work at Seal Press. I came across your blog while I was doing research for our book Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage (Seal Press / June 2008 / $24.95), by Jenny Block. Since you are a great advocate for polyamory, I just wanted to mention that Block is going to be doing a number of readings from Portland to Texas and I thought perhaps you or your readers might be interested in attending or hearing about the book.

Open is a book about open marriage that grapples with the problems surrounding monogamy and fidelity in an honest, heartfelt, and non-fringe manner. In Open, Block paints a down-to-earth picture of how an open marriage can work, and specifically why it works for her and her husband. In dissecting other people's strong reactions to her choice, she explores the question of why cheating is more socially acceptable than open marriage. In part, she concludes, the lack of models for successful functional open marriages is such that the general public is not yet equipped to handle treating it as anything other than abnormal.

Open challenges our notions of what traditional marriage looks like, and presents one woman's journey down an uncertain path that ultimately proves that open marriage is a viable option, and one that's in fact better for some couples than conventional marriage.

We’d love to send you an advanced readers copy to preview, and/or review/giveaway on your blog to your community. Please let us know if there is any way we can work with you!
Feel free to contact us for more information! We love your site!

Best,
Kyrsten
Seal Press
kyrsten.bean@sealpress.com