FARCE HIGHLIGHTS COMMITMENT TO CHARACTER
Immaculata High School hilariously tackles themes like dishonesty, false identity
Show #16: Leading Ladies Where: Immaculata High School Director: Jillian Budgell
Cleopatra and a fairy walk into the house of an ailing woman hoping to inherit her multimillion dollar fortune. However, they find out she has sufficiently recovered, and she learns that they are both costumed men. This was only one of the many jokes executed in Immaculata High School’s lively and hilarious production of Leading Ladies.
Premièring in 2004 at The Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, Leading Ladies is a comedy play written by Ken Ludwig.
The farce follows two struggling Shakespearean actors, Leo and Jack, who discover through a newspaper that Florence, a sick elderly woman, is searching for her sister’s children, Max and Steve, to include in her inheritance.
When the pair is informed that their full names are actually Maxine and Stephanie, they pretend to be women and hope that their act deceives not only Florence but also everyone else they encounter as they await her passing.
With a slight tilting of his head and a clear rolling of his eyes, Colin Sweeney, in the role of Jack, exceptionally conveyed his character’s disbelief when asked to dress as a woman, and his annoyance when forced to comply.
However, whether it was using his hands to shyly hide his face, when complemented on his beauty, or lightly brushing them against the back cushion of a couch when seducing the fiancé of Meg, Florence’s niece, his commitment to appearing more feminine was not only indubitable but extremely amusing.
Alec Kyte, who portrayed Leo, demonstrated this same dedication as he switched the naturally deep tone of his voice for one of higher pitch while frantically adjusting his wig, trying to convince Meg of the existence of two different people.
As Audrey, Ceilidh Rooney exhibited her enthusiasm as words tumbled quickly out of her mouth in conversation and revealed her dull-witted nature as she slowed down to stress each syllable of a new word in her vocabulary.
Her vigorous yelling at Stephanie, who was ostensibly deaf and dumb, was effective not only in further characterizing Audrey as bubbly and airheaded, but also in making the audience roar with laughter.
As Florence, Robyn McLellan portrayed her senility with great accuracy, whether it was shaking as she slowly moved across the stage with a hunched back or squinting as she tried to discern the facial features of others.
The passing of time and development of character were emphasized through the various costumes presented in the play. Changing from a simple black suit to a short, sparkly dress adorned with fairy wings to a purple gown with a visible slit, it was evident that the character of Jack was forced to abandon his normal life as a Shakespearean actor, become a member of the opposite sex, and commit to the transition every day with feminine clothes and a pair of heels.
The character of Meg also transformed as she replaced the plaid midi-skirt and longsleeved blue cardigan worn by her old conservative self with a tight pink dress that signalled her liberation from her fiancé’s traditional values. Minute details such as the “Oh, Max! Oh, Steve!” headline pasted onto a newspaper as a prop or the photo of Florence hanging above her mantelpiece on the set only made the entire play more immersive and entertaining.
Although dishonesty and false identity are central themes essential to the story of Leading Ladies, one truth that prevailed was that commitment to character and comical costuming rendered Immaculata High School’s production a massive success.