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Theatre & Box Office Articles Review |
Reprinted with permission of The Times of Northwest Indiana. 'The Underpants' will have you in a bunch of laughs BY CAROL MOORE Congratulations to Community Theatre Guild for three nominations for Northwest Indiana Excellence in Theatre Foundation's award for best play! Their production of "The Underpants" opens a new season with a laughing look at the battle of the sexes. In fact, if you like double entendres, this is the play for you. Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin) took an obscure German play, "Die Hose," written by Carl Sternheim in 1911, and put his own spin on a very silly story. The story opens with Theo Maske (Andy Urschel), a petty bureaucrat from a long line of petty bureaucrats berating his wife, Louise (Patricia Bird), for her very public faux pas, dropping her underpants just as the king's parade passed by. Theo is worried about his career, Louise is positive no one observed, and life goes on. Poet Frank Versati (John Evans) hopes to write an ode to the underpants; Benjamin Cohen (Dan Matern) is jealous because Versati got to Louise first. Neighbor Gertrude (Stephany Mullen) makes Louise a new pair of sexy underdrawers. Klinglehoff (Dennis Dickson) and the King (Fred Margison) round out an excellent cast. "The Underpants" is so well-written; one can almost hear Steve Martin reciting the lines. The dialog is fast-paced, crisp and chock-full of double entendres. Action on the stage is equally fast-paced, and must be carefully choreographed; otherwise Patricia Bird would be one big bruise. At times the audience was laughing so hard, it was impossible to hear the next lines. Luckily, "The Underpants" runs through Oct. 22. Don't miss it! At Chicago Street Theatre, Valparaiso. FYI: (219) 464-1636 or www.ctgonline.org |
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