After a series of dark and twisted plays including The Crucible and The Pillowman, director David Schuler decided it was time for something lighter. Students gathered at the production of “Or,” by Liz Duffy Adams, which opened Oct. 21, at the Center for the Arts.

“Or,” is a historical and literary sex comedy that celebrates social and sexual liberation during two different times periods, both of which had suffered from a repression—the 1660s English Restoration and America in the 1960s. The play also takes on themes of contradictions inherent in human behavior.

The director’s note indicates that the play reveals a day in the life of Aphra Behn, a poet and spy from the English Restoration period who hopes to get out of the spy trade and into show business. Aphra is given one chance to prepare a play by the early morning. However, conflicts emerge as Aphra gets involved in romantic encounters with King Charles II, William Scott and Nell Gwynne.

“The playwright, Lizzy Duffy Adams, plays with the facts to make it dramatically more interesting,” Schuler said. “They are all real people so that is an interesting lesson not only for our theater students, but also for the general public for when they come to see the show, they are seeing partial stories of real people from English history.”

The four cast members, Emily Cooksey, Elliot Frieden, Emma Wilson and Aaron Pliska play a total of seven characters. All of the members except for Cooksey, who played the main character Aphra Behn, doubled up on character roles. The fully animated qualities of each character were complimented by heavy, elaborate clothing reflective of 17th Century England.

The scene opened up with Behn anxiously scribbling down notes as the masked King Charles II, played by Frieden, attempts to seduce her. Only once the king’s tricks work did he take off his mask to reveal his true identity as the King. As Behn hides the King after hearing footsteps, William Scott enters the scene—her ex-lover. Frieden, who played both King Charles and William Scott, changed his entire persona in a matter of seconds frequently throughout the show.

“Having four cast members play several characters, it’s just kind of challenging to decide what the characters are going to do because there’s kissing and so you have to decide: How does Charles kiss, how does Scott kiss, how am I supposed to talk to Emma when she’s Maria, how am I supposed to talk to Nel?” Frieden said. “Just stuff like that, but working together and playing along with the actors, it’s all good.”

The play provided parallels between the two historical periods and was filled with comedic “hot” moments as the bisexual Behn attempted to sustain normalcy in a highly chaotic setting involving door slamming, casual hook-ups, murder and a drunken ex-lover.

“The play kept me on my toes because when you were expecting something, the opposite happened. I like the funny aspects of the play and that there were only four actors and actresses. You barely noticed it was a small cast because they did a really good job of changing between characters,” Aislynn Hasleu, junior business administration major, said.

The play, which was primarily student-run, lasted roughly 1 hour, 25 minutes without an intermission.

“It was a funny play. There was a lot of physical comedy and nonsense going on. And since we haven’t done [comedy] very often here, it was a nice change,” Schuler said. “It was time for something lighter. Every rehearsal they were playing and exploring.”

[email protected]