7.6 /10 1 Votes
Written by Lanford Wilson First performance 1 February 1965 Genre One-act play Place premiered New York City | 3.8/5 Goodreads Characters Rachel, Agnes Playwright Lanford Wilson Original language English language | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date premiered February 1, 1965 (1965-02-01) Similar Lanford Wilson plays, Other plays | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ludlow Fair is a one-act play by American playwright Lanford Wilson. It was first produced at Caffe Cino in 1965, a coffeehouse and small theatre run by Joseph Cino, a pioneer of the Off-Off-Broadway theatre movement.
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Production history
The play was supposed to originally premiere double billed with Adrienne Kennedy's The Owl Answers and both be directed by Michael Kahn. Lucille Lortel and Kahn asked Wilson to remove a four letter word from the play, which he agreed to. When Lortel wrote Wilson's agent, she wrote to also change the term "pissed off" and then further stated, "Throughout I feel there are entirely too many 'Christs.' I feel it is possible to make a true and telling point without undue vulgarity, as Miss Kennedy's play proves," Wilson denied these changes.
The play premiered at the Caffe Cino in New York City in February 1965. It was directed and with set design by Neil Flanagan and lighting design by Dennis Parichy. The cast starred Martha Galphin (Rachel) and Jennie Ventriss (Agnes).
It premiered Off-Broadway in a double billing with The Madness of Lady Bright at Theater East on March 22, 1966 and closed on April 3, 1966. It was directed by William Hunt, set and lighting design David F. Segal, and costume design by Kapi Reith. The cast starred Sasha von Scherler (Agnes) and Ann Wedgeworth (Rachel).
In 1967, there was a Lanford Wilson festival in the spring in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Caffe Cino being open. The cast starred Brandy Carson and Sandy Lessin.
In the 1970s, Conchata Ferrell was an actress at Circle Repertory Company, and wanted to do a revival of the co-founder Wilson's early play, Ludlow Fair. Trish Hawkins was cast opposite Ferrell, and after Wilson saw these performances, he went on to cast them both them in The Hot l Baltimore.
In 1976, Ludlow Fair was triple billed with The Madness of Lady Bright and The Family Continues at the NYTE Arena Theatre (New York City) directed by Pam Billig.
In 1980, it was quadruple billed at the Manhattan Conservatory Theater as Summer, Sex, and Sanity. The four shows involved were A Good Time by Ernest Thompson, This Property is Condemned by Tennessee Williams, Chamber Music by Arthur Kopit, and Ludlow Fair. Ludlow Fair was later double billed in 1982 with Terence Rattigan's All On Her Own starring Alicia Springer, Jo Damiano, and Marina Cross at the No Smoking Playhouse.
Plot overview
The Village Voice describes the play as:
"...a bedtime story about two girl roommates. Rachael is glamorous, fast-living, sometimes lost in her own self-dramatizations; Agnes is plain, matter-of-fact, her shyness masked by a kooky personality. The play is ostensibly about Rachael: She turned her latest boyfriend in to the police when he stole from her, and now she is remorseful—now she decides she is in love with him. Agnes tries to cheer her up with wisecracks, then tries to rekindle her self-awareness, and finally Rachael goes to sleep. Agnes is left alone, thinking about her lunch date with the boss' disappointing son tomorrow. And suddenly it is her play, the realist is the true romantic. Agnes' unprepossessing but real emotions outweigh Rachel's trumped-up, self-indulgent flourishes, and suddenly the play is simple and moving."