Event

The Dutch Courtesan

This production is presented by Poculi Ludique Societas and Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto in conjunction with the conference "Strangers and Aliens in London and Toronto: Sex, Religion, and Xenophobia in Marstons The Dutch Courtesan"

The urban landscape of the play presents London as a city that simultaneously applauds itself for being a multicultural cosmopolitan metropolis and feels deeply anxious about the place of strangers within its urban landscape. The main plot deals with the treatment of a foreign sex worker whose otherness is partly established through her accent; the sub-plot follows two members of a distrusted religious minority as they are tricked and abused.

Marstons play is a reflection of the London his audience inhabited, a cynical, often vicious portrayal of a here-and-now. Our production aims to evoke that audience-actor dynamic, and so we are looking to approximate some original conditions, but with a largely modern aesthetic. The aim is to use performance choices, costumes, accents, and casting that link Marstons London to our Toronto today.