Bondage
by David Henry Hwang
Synopsis
THE STORY: In a Los Angeles S&M parlor, a dominatrix and her client are clad head-to-toe in leather costumes that conceal their faces and ethnicities.
These elaborate disguises allow them to play out fantasies based on racial stereotypes and sexual mythologies: She pretends to be an African-American woman to his white, liberal man; he transforms into an Asian-American and she into a blond WASP, etc. Exchanging biting social observations with stinging humor, they progress through their power games to expose the arbitrariness of racially minded thinking.
All the while, however, they are haunted by an awareness that in spite of their efforts, they may be moving towards the most terrifying reality of all—a true intimacy that transcends the bounds of race.
Publication
Bondage is a play written by David Henry Hwang and published by Dramatists Play Service (1996).
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Paperback
Dramatists Play Service · 1996 · 47 pp
Performance Rights
Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)
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