Legacies of Love, his recently published study of same-sex couples throughout history, “Despite his excellent military training and record, Edward despised warfare and competition. The problem is that Edward II was no gay hero but a weak monarch whose self-indulgence led to his downfall. This impulse seems to be the driving force behind the current production of the play staged by Jesse Berger for the Red Bull Theater in New York. Wow, here’s the true story of an actual king of England who was gay and who caused high-level turmoil by neglecting his nobly born French wife and their children for his untitled boyfriend, Gaveston! That the playwright himself was gay adds another frisson of excitement for budding homo-theater scholars. When gay theater students go searching through classical dramatic literature looking for some trace of their own existence, inevitably they latch onto Christopher Marlowe’sĮdward II as a rare example of a famous playwright’s work whose main character is homosexual. EDWARD II * Written by Christopher Marlowe * Adapted by Garland Wright * Directed by Jesse Berger * Produced by Red Bull Theater at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, New York City, through January 13.
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