Cow Patti is once again successful in offering the finest in comedic theatre entertainment.
Who’s Under Where?, Cow Patti’s latest production, is a ridiculous show that brings plenty of laughs, particularly for those whose minds tend to stray toward a slightly adult brand of humour but still offers plenty for those that don’t.
The story begins with the show’s heroines Jane Pritchard (AnnaMarie Lea) and Sybil Brunt (Valerie Barrett) choosing models to show off their new line of men’s lingerie as part of a sales pitch to renowned lingerie designer Signor Bruno Fruferelli (Patric Masurkevitch). For Pritchard and Brunt, the sales pitch is a last-ditch effort to save their failing lingerie business, Passion Fashion.
Should the deal succeed, the pair stand to make millions selling their designs to Fruferelli. If it fails, Fashion Passion will go belly up.
As the two women haven’t been having a lot of luck in the business lately, they ‘borrow’ the funds needed to make the sales pitch from their husbands, who have never taken their work seriously. Fearing their husbands will ridicule them or not support their endeavour the budding business partners decide not to fill their husbands in on the potential new business deal and take the funds in secret, planning to pay them back before their husbands notice the money is missing once the deal goes through.
However, the husbands, Paul Pritchard (Wally MacKinnon) and George Brunt (Matthew Olver) know that something is up and while the heroines might think the men have bought their wives’ weak excuse that they are spending the weekend with Sybil’s mother, they have told a little fib of their own. Instead of going fishing like they told their wives, Paul and Brunt actually suspect their wives of being unfaithful and have seized the opportunity to catch them in the act.
When the husbands break into their wives’ hotel room and discover samples of the new Passion Fashion line of men’s lingerie, multiple misunderstandings ensue that lead to hilarious hi-jinks that only get more ridiculous as the show goes on.
The majority of the humour in the play stems from double-entendres in the dialogue and the compromising and difficult positions the husbands put themselves into whilst trying to avoid their wives’ detection. A few laughs are to be had from some funny set pieces, most notably the ridiculous designs of the male lingerie samples and even a handful of compromising body positions the characters find themselves in throughout the show.
These jokes serve to add some variety to the show and keep things interesting whenever the barrage of sexual references, while funny, begin to get tiresome.
The show certainly is not short on laughs for those who enjoy a risqué sort of humour and still appeals easily to those who are not quite as fond of such sexual overtones.
Who’s Under Where? boasts a gallery of balanced characters each of whom gets to stand in the spotlight at some point and be on both the receiving end and the delivery end of at least a few jokes. Cow Patti’s cast of actors does a bang-up job of nailing the personalities of these laugh-inducing characters.
Lea, the leader of Cow Patti, plays the dirty-minded Jane, who is the first to make jokes or lewd comments about the appearance of the male models, or the names of Fashion Passions ‘enticing’ designs.
Barrett returns to Cow Patti after her performances in last season’s Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii and The Perfect Wedding to play Brunt. She is clearly the more serious side of Fashion Passion and is determined to make this sales pitch work no matter what happens.
MacKinnon, recognizable as Ted from Cow Patti’s production of The Foursome, returns to Cow Patti this season as Paul. Paul instigates the investigation into his wife’s business and is quick to jump to conclusions, especially once he discovers ‘evidence’ in the hotel room.
Matthew Olver is an admirable fool as Brunt. Brunt isn’t as confident as Paul and only goes along with Paul’s accusations at his insistence.
Evan Hall is the confident, but slightly oafish young model Sebastian. Sebastian is looking forward to his gig with Passion Fashion, but he is more than put out of his comfort zone when things take a turn for the crazy while he is on the job.
Making his debut with Cow Patti is Greg Campbell as security guard Rodge Hodge. Hodge is a persistent individual who is dedicated to his job and is determined to get his man, or woman, depending on the context.
Masurkevitch is the debonair, and slightly perverted, Italian designer Signor Bruno Fruferelli. Despite Fruferelli’s undeniable charm, audiences will have a few laughs at his expense thanks to his somewhat clumsy grasp of the English language.
All-in-all, Who’s Under Where? is an worthwhile comedy that has a flowing story and more than enough laughs to keep audiences entertained throughout.