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I want to tell you a secret about Who's Under Where'

Theatre Tillsonburg’s next production is Marcia Kash and Doug Hughes' hilarious farce, Who’s Under Where? Okay, that makes it sound like you will see underwear, but it is written like you will see who is under a tree or something, right? But no, that isn’t it true! It is actually about underwear. The title and poster are tricks to mislead you, the unsuspecting patron.

I am not telling you because I am worried you will be offended by this adult content play. No! I am telling you because for once in a farce it is not going to be women running around in their underwear, it is going to be men! Yes! Finally girls, we are going to get the eye candy. Hubba Hubba!

The February blues are going to blow away when you see this show. I truly believe it is one of the best farces ever. So, what we have is Jane Pritchard (played by Jennifer Jull) and Sybil Brunt (Stacey Riley), friends, who design fashionable underwear. They have caught the interest of a famous Italian underwear designer Bruno Fruferelli (Mark ‘the original’ Smith) to sell their line of Passion Fashion Wear Lingerie. They have carefully planned to woo his interest, in a private fashion show, in an expensive hotel room. Since he has seen most of their ladies fashions, they are concentrating more on men’s fashions and have three male models booked.

The only possibility they have not prepared for are their husbands, who they plan to surprise with million dollar cheques. Now that wasn’t too smart, because the boys know their wives are up to something, and considering they have a fancy hotel room, champagne and have been sneaking around. They are presuming the obvious. Paul Pritchard (Randy McGivern) and George Brunt (Dave Deelen) are determined to discover what their wives are up to, and break into the hotel room when the girls are out. But when one of the male models, Sebastian (Mathew Vigar), presumes they are other models, they freak out. When the wives return, they hide on the balcony trying to see what is happening without being seen by the girls. Roger Hodge (Don Fonk), the security guard, is called in and everything goes terribly wrong. It must, you know, for it is a farce.

I will not tell you anything more about the plot, simply because it is so convoluted, but I do think you should keep a close eye out the balcony for whatever flies by!

One would think that farces are easy to do because the dialogue is so hilarious, however they are in fact quite a challenge. It is all about timing. Timing the laughter so the audience doesn’t miss any of the lines; and the physical timing of entrances and exits which have to be bang on so no one is caught on stage or off. That is one of the jobs of the director, Melanie Watts, who has over 60 shows with Theatre Tillsonburg, has to work out to the split second. Pete Matthews, a favourite on our stage, is assistant director. Victoria Coward is the producer who keeps all departments on the straight and narrow, does the advertising, publicity, organizes, controls the purse strings, and does at least a thousand other jobs.

Chris Julien-Van Gluck has returned to the fold as stage manager with the lovely Hailey McAra as her assistant. I had the privilege of designing the set which was wonderful because it is different than the regular ‘box’ sets we do. Peter Beechey, Ward Smith and Hank Flinsenberg constructed it. Anne Corcoran, our marvelous mistress of set décor, with the help of Melanie, Victoria, Bill, Brian and probably others have painted it pretty and made it look like a classy hotel room. Pat Linn is our Prop Mistress, finding all the little things everyone expects to see in that hotel room and that the cast needs to handle. Costumes were gathered, made, and borrowed by Olwyn Coughlin and Sheila Tripp. Our techies include Sean Goble who designed the lighting and sound and Tanner Lee who will run the lights and Larry Winter who will run the sound.

All these people, cast and crew have worked as a team to produce a fantastic evening of side splitting laughter especially for you, so you had best get your tickets now. You can call the Box Office at (519) 688-3026 for your tickets or go to our wonderful partners, the Station Arts Centre on Bridge Street to order and pick up them up. All tickets are now $17. The show dates are Feb. 5, 6, 7, 8* and Feb. 12, 13, 14, 15*, with an 8 p.m. curtain except for the two Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

Distroscale

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