Written by Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer
Directed by Fred Abrahamse
September 27 – 30, 2023
Venue: Powel House: 244 S. Third Street Philadelphia, PA 19106
The play centres on the relationship between acclaimed surgeon, Doctor James Barry, his African manservant, John and the then, Governor of the Cape Colony, Lord Charles Henry Somerset. Barry lived his entire adult life as a man but was named Margret Ann at birth and was known as female in childhood. Barry’s biological sex only became widely known to the public and his colleagues after his death in 1865.
In Contested Bodies, things get down and dirty in the Governor’s residence when the three men decide, as part of their evening’s entertainment, to enact a lewd and lascivious play penned by the ultimate libertine and provocateur, the salacious Marquis de Sade. The enactment of the De Sade play reveals many unspoken truths and recalibrates the men’s friendship and relationship with each other.
Produced by Abrahamse & Meyer Productions and EgoPo Classical Theater.
A special, limited-performance run in honor of EgoPo's 30th Anniversary Season