Into the Breeches

George Brant's play at Stage West theatre had a mostly female cast, although there were two male roles. Set in the 1940s, when most men are away at war, Maggie decides to put on a female version of Shakespeare's Henry plays at the Oberon theatre where her husband Andrew was director for years. He's on the frontlines now, but has encouraged her in letters to go ahead without him. So Maggie asks their leading lady to play a male role, and then holds auditions for women to play the other parts. It's like a reversal of the Elizabethan tradition to have men play all roles.

Into the Breeches is a funny comedy, but it also touches on timely topics like pay equity, racism, and homophobia. I was surprised to learn that the Oberon's diva Celeste had never been paid for her work for years; only the male actors were paid because "they have families to support." How horribly unfair and sexist! Apparently Celeste was supporting herself by giving voice lessons to people. So Maggie has to negotiate with the producer Mr. Snow to start paying the women to act; it helps that she has already cast Snow's wife Winifred in the play, to give her leverage. Other castmembers have problems too, and Maggie has to address these as she tries to make a cohesive unit out of them.

It was very enjoyable and moving. Some of the dialogue even referenced people and newspapers in the local Dallas/Ft Worth area, which I think was to make it feel more immediate to us. We don't see the cast perform the whole four-hour play, of course, but we do see them rehearsing several scenes to give us a flavor of how good the amateur actors are becoming. They become a community, a "band of brothers" as they use Shakespeare to show patriotic support for their men away at war.