Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Albuquerque/Santa Fe


Regional Reviews

The Underpants
The Vortex Theatre

Also see Rob's review of The Sunshine Boys and Dean's review of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told


Paul Hunton, Catalina Rey, and Yannig Morin
"In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking." Imagine the scandal if, in 1910, around a lady's ankles people saw not just a bit of hosiery, but London and France too. And then she steps out of those knickers altogether!

The problem is that it's not 1910 anymore, and now, God knows, anything goes. Undergarments falling down in a public place, especially when it's under a long skirt, wouldn't be very titillating nowadays. Yet that's the unseen incident around which The Underpants develops.

Would anyone be doing this play if Steve Martin's name were not on it? Exactly how much of a Steve Martin play it is I don't know, since I haven't looked at the 1910 German play by Carl Sternheim that Martin adapted. I doubt that any viewer or reviewer, after seeing this show, will be inspired to read the original. Comedy doesn't travel well, neither internationally nor across time.

Sternheim's original was apparently a satire of bourgeois conventionality. Before the play starts, Louise Maske, an attractive young middle-class hausfrau, was on the street watching a parade. As the king passed by, she stretched her body upward to see better and her underwear fell down. Her husband Theo is mortified, worried that the scandal will affect his chances for promotion at his government bureaucracy job. Struggling to get by on his salary, the Maskes are trying to rent out a spare bedroom. Suddenly, there are three people interested in it, two of whom are only interested in seeing more of Louise.

Should Louise have an affair with one or both of them, since her husband hasn't slept with her since their wedding night a year ago (he says they can't afford a child yet)? Her upstairs neighbor Gertrude tells her she should, but Louise, although her husband is a bore in every possible way, vacillates. Will she, won't she? Do the suitors really want to go all the way, or is the idea of it sweeter than the doing of it? That's basically the plot. Plus, as with any farce, there are a lot of doors.

A play like this might be saved by sparkling wit and brilliant language. That's why the comedies of Shakespeare, Moliere, and Oscar Wilde have survived, while most others are sitting on the trash heap of the forgotten. I expected funnier from Steve Martin. There are about five good laughs, which is hardly enough to sustain this 90 minute one-act.

Marty Epstein has been one of Albuquerque's most reliable theater directors for years now, but here he has stumbled not only in the choice of play, but in some of the details as well. I hate to be the accent gestapo, but it bothers me when a couple of the characters speak in German or Yiddish accents but the rest sound like Americans, when the action is set in 1910 Germany. With accents, it should be all or none. The big impressive set by Vic Browder is a work of art, but it's done in German Expressionist style, which is fine if you're doing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, but not relevant to the staid apartment of the Maskes. And when Louise suddenly smells smoke and realizes that the wieners have burned and dinner is ruined, at least have the tray of sausages in the on-stage oven instead of sitting on the kitchen counter the whole time.

There are, however, a few reasons to see this play: the performances of Paul Hunton (who is always at the top of his game, no matter what the role), Micah McCoy, and Arthur Alpert. Yannig Morin is good too, but I found the part he had to play somewhat irritating. Catalina Rey has the right physical attributes for the role of an object of desire, but her acting reminded me of high school theater. Teresa Longo is simply in the wrong play.

The Vortex has been batting a thousand for the past year or more, but nobody can keep that kind of record going forever. Here's hoping that upcoming shows bring their average up to near-perfect again.

The Underpants, an adaptation by Steve Martin of a German play by Carl Sternheim, being presented at the Vortex Theatre in Albuquerque, on Carlisle between Menaul and Candelaria. Through July 5, 2015. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00. Tickets $22, students $15. Info at www.vortexabq.org or 505-247-8600.


Photo: Alan Mitchell Photography


--Dean Yannias