Jon is an acclaimed novelist, a charismatic university professor, and a middle-aged man staring down the end of his third marriage. Enter Annie - nineteen years old, a star student and a huge fan of Jon’s work. An undeniable attraction draws them into dangerous territory. With Ella Beatty and Hugh Jackman, the US premiere of award-winning playwright Hannah Moscovitch’s Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes takes us down the most slippery of slopes and will have you questioning your perspective throughout.
It is only in the last few minutes – and, really, only after the show has ended — that it sank in how much of what Jon does is despicable, and how much of what happens to Annie falls short of consensual. It seems plausible to me that playwright Hannah Moscovitch and director Ian Rickson deliberately set out to make Annie dull – the opposite of a seductress or a predator (predatress?) in the David Mamet mold — and even worked to emphasize the 30-year difference in the actors’ ages, achieving an uncomfortable father-daughter vibe.
Ever since #MeToo became a hashtag and a movement, forever altering the way we frame, discuss, and spotlight sexual abuse and harassment, ask yourself: When was the last time—if ever—you found yourself sympathizing with an aggressor? Yet here we are off-Broadway at Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, listening to the confessions of famous author/rock-star college professor Jon Macklem, and we’re immediately charmed. Partly, it’s because we’re hearing the story almost entirely from his perspective—a surprising, and daring, choice.
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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