Peggy Shaw's one-woman show "Menopausal Gentleman," a serious-yet-comic look at that phase of life known as "the change," will open the Yale Repertory Theatre's 1998-99 Special Events Series at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26. The performance will be held at the Yale Rep, corner of Chapel and York streets.
Part stream-of-consciousness monologue, part stand-up comedy and part blues lounge act, "Menopausal Gentleman" chronicles the tortures of a 53-year-old grandmother -- who passes for a 35-year-old gentleman -- as she endures the onset of menopause.
"[Y]ou don't have to be going through the change, contemplating the change, or even be physically capable of the change to appreciate what Shaw is going through on stage," wrote Ed Siegel of The Boston Globe. "Without ever hitting you over the head, it makes you wonder if there is anything essential beyond the basics -- like menopause -- in defining what it means to be male or female or gay or straight. And she does it in a way that gets past gender wars or political correctness."
Shaw is cofounder of the Split Britches theater troupe. She got her start as the only woman performing with Hot Peaches, a gay cabaret group. "I learned from doing theater on the streets, especially with drag queens," says Shaw. "You learn very quickly to be competitive, to speak up, to be as tall as they are, and as fabulous. We went around the world for three years on the first gay theater tour."
"Menopausal Gentleman," which has played to sold-out houses in the northeastern United States and Europe, was developed in collaboration with, and is directed by Rebecca Taichman, a second-year student in the School of Drama's graduate directing program, whose most recent work, "The People vs. the God of Vengeance 1923," is currently being presented as part of Boston's 1998 Festival of Lesbian and Gay Theater. The lighting for the Shaw show is designed by another drama school student, Marcus Doshi, who is in his second year in the graduate lighting design program.
Tickets for "Menopausal Gentleman" are now on sale. Prices range from $9 to $18. For more information, call the Yale Rep box office at 432-1234, weekdays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m.