Customer Reviews

The Underpants

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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

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."

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.

This play, adapted by Steve Martin from a crazy old German farce almost 100 years old, is fresh, bawdy, smart, and really really funny. Anyone who loves Steve Martin's literate-kooky mind will adore this! It was a hit in New York last year. It should be done at every theater around the country, and soon!

I had to buy this play for a drama class, and although I'm not very fond of reading, I found this quite entertaining. It is definitely worth picking up and reading!

Steve Martin is such a marvelous writer. This was such a quick & entertaining read. Lots of LOLs!

The Underpants is Steve Martin's interpretation of a play written by German playwright Carl Sternheim in the early 1900s.

Louise, stretching on her tiptoes to get a better view of the King, has her underpants drop to the floor. Her husband, Theo, is scandalized, but the story revolves around the other men who witnessed this event, who try hard to get Louise to provide a second performance in her own home.

This is a comedy piece, through and through, although there are hints of the times with anti-Semitism ("That's Cohen with a K"), disparate gender roles, and sexual repression. Given the publicity associated with "wardrobe malfunctions" today, the story reflects culture's continuing interest in those "brief peeks" (pun intended).

I think it would be a blast to see this play in production. I missed my chance during the 2002-03 season of the Manoa Valley Theatre. And now that I've read the screenplay, I can sense that it would have been a hoot.

The Underpants, published in 2002 by Hyperion, is an attractive and well-constructed book, and it will give you a good sense of what to expect in a performance.

I wanted this book for a class and received it within 3 days...speedy delivery! Hilarious adaptation of a older German play written by Carl Sternheim. I really enjoyed reading and acting out scenes from this show.

If you're like me you stopped reading plays after high school or college english, and for good reason, they stunk. This remake by Steve Martin is well written and quite funny so buy it without fear, and perhaps put on a play for your friends and family. Well maybe not that, but if you were to choose a play for adults this would be it.

This play was wonderfully written. Although short, it was laugh out loud funny, and delightfully racy! Steve Martin once again shows his comic genius in the adaptation of Carl Sternheim's play.