Irish Actors Conveniently Stage Play in Park Bathroom

The hunt for a bathroom in Central Park gets even more desperate for the next week, as a troupe of Irish actors have commandeered the public bathrooms in Central Park's Bethesda Terrace to present their play Ladies & Gents. The noir thriller is acted out near the sinks and urinals, while audience members pay $25 a head (sorry) to stand along a row of stalls for the 40 minute play.

The audience splits in half to watch the two acts, which are performed simultaneously in the men's and ladies’ rooms; during the interval they switch to get the other side of the story. Set in 1950s Dublin at the corrupt crossroads between politics, prostitutes and toilets, the site-specific play did well across the pond, where it sold out bathrooms across England. Of course, New Yorkers are getting used to seeing theater in the toilet; last year the Rising Phoenix Rep staged Rules of the Universe in the bathroom at Jimmy’s No. 43.

But getting permission to use a public bathroom proved difficult for the show’s producers, who spent a year wading through city bureaucracy to get the proper permits. (To guide them on their quest, they used The Bathroom Diaries.) Ultimately, the Parks Department agreed to rent the restroom for a sum in the neighborhood of $30,000. Please note: no one is allowed to actually go to the bathroom in the bathroom during Ladies & Gents, but less entertaining portable toilets have been positioned nearby.

Ladies & Gents will be performed three times nightly at 7, 8 and 9 p.m. through March 29th. Tickets are $25.

Photo of Central Park bathroom: Marielle Deighan