[attach id=253606 size="medium"]Alan Paris as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.[/attach]

There’s something almost nun-like about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. She is quiet and neat, walking through her celebrated museum in a pair of orthopaedic shoes and a plain black dress.

She talks about her antique furniture and carefully catalogued objects with an air of contemplative detachment. After completing the tour, she smiles and asks visitors for some small donation, every inch a sphinx with an inscrutable secret.

But Charlotte’s secret was on display all her life – she never really did try to hide it. Charlotte von Mahlsdorf was born biologically male.

From our first meeting with the central character, it’s clear Von Mahlsdorf’s is a survivor, capable of keeping true to herself despite the odds. In the hands of Alan Paris, who gives the most riveting performance I’ve seen from him, and director Nanette Bimmer, whose careful touch is evident throughout this well-crafted production, I Am My Own Wife is easily the best play I’ve watched in Malta this year.

Paris constructs a performance that is respectful and intriguing, good-natured, but not afraid to confront the darker side of Von Mahlsdorf’s personality

Paris constructs a performance that is respectful and intriguing, good-natured, but not afraid to confront the darker side of Von Mahlsdorf’s personality.

The audience is asked to join him on a journey where things are never quite as simple as they seem. Paris explores the complexity of a single individual through the perspectives of some 35 characters, presenting us with all the things one person can come to be in other people’s lives.

Von Mahlsdorf’s life is one of constant struggle – the story of a transgender woman’s survival under both Nazi and Communist regimes, through World War II and the Cold War. As the plot of I Am My Own Wife, her story reaches beyond time and culture in an essentially universal message about freedom, and the importance of being true to one’s authentic self.

Born Lothar Berfelde on March 18, 1928 in Berlin, von Mahlsdorf described herself as “a boy with the soul of a girl”. Her father was a member of the Nazi party, a violent bully who terrorised his family and especially despised Lothar’s effeminacy. Von Mahlsdorf tells the story that, protecting herself from one of his deadly attacks one night, she battered her father to death.

The teenager was sentenced to four years in a juvenile prison, only released at the outbreak of World War II. Coupled with allegations of being a Stasi collaborator during the Communist domination of East Berlin, these difficult moments make von Mahlsdorf a challenging and altogether controversial figure. Yet, however, audience members judge this transgender icon, her tale leaves a definite impression.

Along with von Mahlsdorf, the other pivotal character in I Am My Own Wife is the playwright Doug Wright, who won the Pulitzer Prize for this play. An unabashed admirer eager to interview her, Wright visited Berlin in the 1990s, all set to write a heroic account of Charlotte’s life.

When he stumbled upon discrepancies in her story, half-truths and grandiose embellishments, Wright felt unable to publish the work. It was only after he decided to write himself into the play that the pieces fell into place and a pervasive sense of ambiguity, the delicate balance between truth and falsehood, contributes a key element that turns the play into an achingly human narrative.

I Am My Own Wife is an intelligent, witty and moving work, where both Brimmer and Paris have come together to offer something especially fine.

The play’s title comes from 40-year-old Charlotte’s answer to her mother’s plea: “Don’t you think it’s time you settled down and found a wife?”

With her same inscrutable smile Charlotte answered: “But Mutti, don’t you know that I am my own wife?”

I Am My Own Wife shows today at Vault No. 2, Valletta Waterfront.

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