A Fundamental Oddness

by Carina Kanzler

Luanne, Lucille, Henri, and Elliot are four young people brought together one spring in London, 1861, with nothing in common but a fundamental oddness. For the upper classes in the Victorian Era, love and marriage could seem little more than a game of strategy. But when Luanne decides she wants to play, she tugs at a thread that begins to unravel the deepest, most bewildering desires laying dormant in all four.

Luanne, Lucille, Henri, and Elliot are four young people brought together one spring in London, 1861, with nothing in common but a fundamental oddness. For the upper classes in the Victorian Era, love and marriage could seem little more than a game of strategy. But when Luanne decides she wants to play, she tugs at a thread that begins to unravel the deepest, most bewildering desires laying dormant in all four.

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A Fundamental Oddness

Recommended by

  • Shaun Leisher: A Fundamental Oddness by Carina Kanzler
    “

    It was hard not to think of Oscar Wilde while reading this. It's a 19th century comedy of manners for the modern generation of gender expansive folx that The Importance of Being Earnest wishes it could be. Everyone in this play has something about them that is a little different than what's expected of them and they are all trying to supress it as they aim for a comfortable life. A life with a partner of the approved gender identity only though. The yearning these characters experience is palpable and kept me hooked.

    It was hard not to think of Oscar Wilde while reading this. It's a 19th century comedy of manners for the modern generation of gender expansive folx that The Importance of Being Earnest wishes it could be. Everyone in this play has something about them that is a little different than what's expected of them and they are all trying to supress it as they aim for a comfortable life. A life with a partner of the approved gender identity only though. The yearning these characters experience is palpable and kept me hooked.

    ”

Character Information

  • Luanne
    Woman? Lady. Exceedingly wealthy property owner, thanks to her late father. She wants love and intimacy. She wants truth and power. She wants to know exactly what and who she is. Wildly lost on where to start. Friends with Henri since childhood. Courting Elliot. Hosting Lucille for the past year while being her benefactor and ~friend~.
    26
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Lucille
    Retired ballerina. Sordid past. Haunted, waifish, fairly anti-social. Odd. She’s ready to sleep away her days in the comfort of Luanne’s home and in Luanne’s decidedly romantic friendly embrace. She’s too tired for self discovery. Connected to Luanne through Henri, a former patron of hers.
    24
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Henri (Lord Cartwright)
    Like a true Dandy, he’d like everything about himself to be purely surface level. Things break through the cracks, though, especially around Luanne, his friend since childhood. Witty, fashionable, somehow wealthier than Luanne. Enviously unencumbered and notoriously self-serving.
    26
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Elliot (Lord Billingsley)
    Breezy, effortless, unselfconscious. Benefitting greatly from a lack of first-born duties. In town after a long time away. Has no qualms or hang-ups about exactly who he is. Courting Luanne and ready to be what she needs him to be – levelheaded, solid, sure. Gets tangled up with Henri who has other ideas.
    28
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Maude
    Lady’s maid to Luanne. A gentle, discreet, knowing presence.
    24
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Tom/Man
    Tom is the footman in Luanne’s home. Earnest, energetic. MAN is an even more effeminate man than Henri, and a frequent patron of the London queer scene.
    22
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s
  • Ethel/Minerva
    Ethel is the housekeeper of Luanne’s home. Minerva is the housekeeper of Henri’s home. We barely see them but they take their jobs very seriously.
    30-40
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s

Development History