L-R, Marsha von Broek, Mary Katherine Patterson and Helen Kim are funny in “Into the Breeches,” onstage at Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond through Aug. 3. (Mike Padua via Bay City News)
By Woody Weingarten
Insert amateur thespians into a modernized World War II version of a Shakespeare play with an all-female cast and what do you get?
A possible hit for the play-within-a-play — and a barrelful of big laughs for the Masquers Playhouse audience in Point Richmond.
L-R, Katharine Otis and Dana Lewenthal appear in Masquers Playhouse’s production of the comedy “Into the Breeches,” onstage through Aug. 3 in Point Richmond. (Mark Decker via Bay City News)
Katharine Otis does far less schtick and thereby gets fewer guffaws as Maggie Dalton, but she ably leads the cast as the wife of the absentee director (he’s off to the front, as are most of the women’s mates). She’s sensitive but bold, brandishing a cerebral weapon for her personal, newly spawned battle to get women equal pay (and, in the process, rid herself of being labeled her husband’s parrot).
The individual jokes, not incidentally, take a back seat to a farcical scene about walking like a man that features codpieces.
There’s a smirk hidden in the “Into the Breeches” title: King Henry V’s battle cry was, according to Willie the Shakes, “Once more, into the breach.” Here, the play on words implies women climbing into men’s trousers.
Mostly upbeat, the charming play by George Brant (with many added references to East Bay locations that trigger wild applause and shouts of “yay”), also delves adroitly if superficially into issues of race, sexual discrimination, misogyny and family separation.
The full cast is skillful: Dana Lewenthal plays a narcissistic but forgiving diva Celeste Fielding, who opts to play Cinderella rather than having to inhabit a character her own age; Alana Wagner as Ida Green, a Black costume designer who aims to snap a racial barrier; Helen Kim as Grace Richards, a newcomer to town who’s terrified her husband wouldn’t approve of her acting; Mary Katherine Patterson as June Bennett, a bike-riding ingenue who wants to become a symbol of patriotism and war efforts; and Chris Harper as Winifred’s board president husband, Ellsworth, who prefers to block progress but folds under pressure.
L-R, Gregory Lynch and Alana Wagner appear in Masquers Playhouse’s fun production of “Into the Breeches.” (Mark Decker via Bay City News)
The Masquers production is a bit quirky. Some of the props on the spare set are covered in material (looks like sheets) that’s removed only when the particular item is needed.
Director Marilyn Langbehn manages to neatly balance its comedy and heart.
Theatergoers appreciated the perfection of the recorded WWII music playing between scenes and the two acts. After the play, one patron said, “I came with trepidation because I’m not a fan of Shakespeare, but I shouldn’t have worried because the short excerpts didn’t get in the way of my enjoying all the comedy.”
And a woman in the first row said she enjoyed the show because the actors were “real people” who acted like real people.
“Into the Breeches” runs through Aug. 3 at the Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $15 $35 at www.masquers.org.
Contact Sherwood “Woody” Weingarten, a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle and author of four books, at voodee@sbcglobal.net, https://woodyweingarten.comand https://vitalitypress.com.
This article was first published onLocalNewsMatters.org, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http://www.baycitynews.org/contact/
