The Ruffian on the Stair

AS I AM Productions presents a double bill of steamy, dark comedy: Joe Orton’s one-act classic, The Ruffian on the Stair, and a new play, Theme and Variations by William Cotter.

In Theme and Variations while awaiting the arrival of her 23 year old lover, we follow a woman professor in her fifties as she tries to shed some light on her present and ever controversial May-December relationship. Searching for love in an increasingly confusing world, she engages the audience in her examination of LOVE. In her struggle to resolve its mystery she leads the audience in a revealing, often hilarious journey through her past.

The Ruffian on the Stair is about a seemingly ordinary middle-class couple and their gold fish whose lives are invaded by a young man looking to rent a room that isn’t available. Once in, he proclaims that he has to come to avenge his brother’s death, terrorizes and seduces the wife and forces the husband to confront his sexual ambiguity. Then…all hell breaks loose!