The Underpants [Paperback]

Steve Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2002

heobald Maske has an unusual problem: his wife's underpants won't stay on. One Sunday morning they fall to her ankles right in the middle of town-a public scandal! Mortified, Theo swears to keep her at home until she can find some less unruly undies. Amid this chaos he's trying to rent a room in their flat. The prospective lodgers have some underlying surprises of their own. In The Underpants, Steve Martin brings his comic genius and sophisticated literary style to Carl Sternheim's classic 1910 farce. His hilarious new version was staged by Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, and opened in March '02 on Off-Broadway to critical acclaim.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Martin is one of today's most talented performers. He has had huge success as a film actor, with such credits as Roxanne, Father of the Bride, Parenthood, The Spanish Prisoner, L.A. Story, and Bowfinger. He's won Emmy's for his television writing and two Grammys for comedy albums. In addition to his two New York Times bestsellers, Shopgirl and Pure Drivel, he has also written nine screenplays and another play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Martin is currently working on a new novella, The Pleasure of My Company, which will be published by Hyperion in 2003. His work appears frequently in the New Yorker and the New York Times. He lives in Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (November 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786888245
• ISBN-13: 978-0786888245
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #165,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Thank God your sluttishness has had no consequences.", September 25, 2006

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Underpants (Paperback)

While Louise Maske is waiting for the king to pass by in Dusseldorf, 1910, the fastener on her underpants releases, and they fall about her ankles in public. In a matter of seconds, she has grabbed them and hidden them, and she expects that few, if any, people have noticed. Her husband Theo, however, a government clerk, is furious and fears that he may be fired from his job for her gaffe.

Adapting Carl Sternheim's sociopolitical farce from 1910 into a wildly burlesque romp appealing to a modern audience, actor/writer Steve Martin drops Sternheim's dated political satire and stresses instead the absurdity of instant fame and the unexpected opportunities it presents to people such as Louise Maske. The result might be termed an "anti-bedroom" farce, since the various sexual pairings and recombinations of characters which develop during this play, some of them devoutly wished for, remain outside the bedroom.

The Maskes have an extra bedroom in their apartment, and they quickly find themselves almost overrun with candidates who want to rent it after Louise's "episode." Versati, a poet, sees Louise as his muse, and he is anxious to have an affair with her (and she, with him), but after she rents the room to him, she discovers that Theo has also rented it to the sickly Benjamin Cohen, a barber who is willing to walk a long distance to his job, just so he can be in the presence of Louise. The room is subdivided, with each person paying almost full rent. In subsequent action, Louise's friend Gertrude gives Louise sexual advice while she also creates a newer, more beautiful set of undergarments for Louise. Two new characters appear, and several new opportunities for liaisons arise.

The humor is bold and full of sexual innuendo as the verbal jousting takes place, Theo remaining ignorant of the intentions of the renters (and Louise), while engaging in attempts at extracurricular cavorting of his own. The many double entendres, the opportunities for the actors to wink at the audience and use humorous gestures, the talking at cross-purposes, and the use of metaphor by one character to speak suggestively to another while leaving a third person in the dark, all add to the humor of this ribald farce. As the characters attempt to obey their innermost urges, the motif of the Loch Ness monster appears and repeats--"All is calm on the surface, but watch out for what's underneath. That's where the danger lies. Under. Underpants." An amusing comedy with obvious humor. n Mary Whipple

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Underpants" doesn't quite have the complete Martin kick., October 9, 2003

By 

Matthew Weaver "cesarfaison" (Spokane) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Underpants (Paperback)

Perhaps that's because "Underpants" is an adaptation of a 1910 comedy by Carl Sternheim.

The play is really about bored housewife Louise Maske, who is at a parade to see the king when her underpants fall down to her ankles. The event scandalizes her boorish husband Theo, who frets over what this could mean to his piddly job.

In no time, however, a couple smitten men who happened to witness the event turn up to try to rent out the single room, in hopes of getting closer to Louise. She finds herself taken with the idea of an affair with charismatic poet Versati, but sickly, lovesick Cohen keeps getting in their way.

What follows is an apparent comedy of errors, but either these particular issues don't translate well to the 2000s or, more likely, Martin's words meant for the stage don't necessarily translate well to the page.

Unless one is a diehard Martin fan, there's no reason to sift through the play over and over in order to appreciate it (although multiple readings do help). It's more bland than bad, though. But nothing of the quality of Martin's other works, like "Shopgirl" or the fantastic "Picasso at the Lapin Agile." Not even of his Academy Award hosting stints. (Remember the line "I took a 9-year-old kid to see 'Gladiator,' and he cried through the entire film. But maybe it's because he didn't know who I was."?)

In fact, there's really only one time it is certain that Martin is in the house, when Gertrude, Louise's busybody neighbor, announces that she has just come from the theater, to see a play by Sternheim.

Louise: "Should I see it?"

Gertrude: "Wait till it's adapted."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical Steve Martin, January 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Underpants (Paperback)

I confess to not being familiar with the original German version of the play, but I appreciate the fact that Steve Martin was, and that he was in turn appreciative enough to think that it warranted an adaptation. Especially in an age where non-musical theater seems to be veering toward sentimentality or else trying too hard to prove itself to be edgy, it's great to read a play where the name of the game is as it always has been and should be - entertainment through engaging characters and interesting plot lines.

The play itself is very funny and retains enough of the "Old World" flavor to make it a unique piece of work when combined with the sensibilities of a sharp-witted writer like Martin. There were short sequences where the "old" Steve Martin humor snuck out, but overall he was very careful to present a new side of his taste that is as different from his other plays as his more recent films have been from his stand-up.