\u201cThis play is wildly transgressive in that sense,\u201d says Byrne. \u201cWhen we sat around the rehearsal table, we ended up having discussions about the nature of sexuality and romantic relationships. People have feelings about it, and they have opinions on it\u2014it\u2019s an age-old part of our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo: Evan Zimmerman<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cTo think that there will be people in the audience even now who really can\u2019t stand the thought of what these women are up to in this play, and especially how it ends…\u201d muses O\u2019Hara. (At one point, her Julia pointedly remarks on how unfair it is that \u201cmen should have the monopoly on wild oats.\u201d) \u201cI just love pushing on that edge,\u201d she goes on. \u201cI love being part of something that says, I\u2019d like you to be surprised. If you\u2019re still surprised, then let\u2019s keep going. Let\u2019s keep pushing it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Coward\u2019s insight into women\u2019s societal repression has surprised some, given he was still in his early 20s when he wrote the play. But O\u2019Hara credits his intuition to his childhood in the theater, where he spent a great deal of time among women who spoke freely with one another about their experiences.<\/p>\n Indeed, Julia and Jane discuss everything with each other\u2014and with increasing familiarity\u2014as they embark on what O\u2019Hara calls \u201ca great, saucy little night,\u201d waiting for Maurice to arrive and happen to find them dining luxuriously in gorgeous gowns. As emotions heighten and the champagne is drained, Coward transforms the drawing room into a battleground where the women trade insults and grievances. At times, the two actresses struggle to keep from breaking onstage.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single night, it\u2019s sort of a new adventure\u2014what someone will throw,\u201d O\u2019Hara says. \u201cWe\u2019re doing something different every night. We\u2019re just trying not to laugh at each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet for all the show\u2019s fizzy funniess, its more sober ideas sit just beneath the bubbly surface\u2014among them, both women\u2019s very real desire for attention from their husbands. \u201c[The play] was just thought of as fiction, but I think there\u2019s a wonderful little stab of realism,\u201d O\u2019Hara says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to tell you what we need, and you just didn\u2019t hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/assets.vogue.com\/photos\/69e4f455f5a456a83d04b15f\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/FALLEN_ANGELS_EVAN_ZIMMERMAN_0800_v1.jpeg\"\/)
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