Description

Inspired by the amazing tale of Wonder Woman’s real-life genesis, Lasso of Truth explores the knotty origin story of our preeminent female superhero.

William Marston is a truly improbable character in American history: psychologist, author and inventor of both the lie detector — a precursor to our modern polygraph — and Wonder Woman. It comes as only a slight surprise to learn that Marston was a bondage enthusiast.The early Wonder Woman comics involve a great deal of capture and typing-up, not to mention to veracity-forcing Lasso of Truth.

More surprising is the revelation that he lived with two women in a large blended family: his wife, Elizabeth, and Olive Richards, his research assistant. These two amazingly strong, forward-thinking and iconoclastic women served as the inspiration for Wonder Woman. This unusual family romance is the perfect proving ground for the play’s overarching questions of truth and verifiability, especially in matters of the human heart. We follow two intertwined stories: one set in the 1930s and 40s, with the trio responsible for Wonder Woman’s creation, and one set in the 1990s, with a girl trying to track down both All-Star Comics #8 and some answers about her childhood heroine. 

This smart, seductive, wild ride of a play features an eclectic cast of characters, hand-drawn comic panels, visitations form a beatific Gloria Steinem and a chorus of tantalising voices in the dark. Is Marston the king of his own exclusive harem, or has he fallen in live with two women who may care more for each other than for him? Can Wonder Woman remains a source of empowerment, strength and pride despite her potential origins as a bondage fantasy creation? Can we ever know the truth of another’s heart? Or our own?