In an era when thong underwear seem to be perpetually peeking out of the top of women’s low-slung pants, it’s hard to imagine that undergarments could elicit more than a raised eyebrow.
But at Capital Repertory Theater, laughter is the reaction caused by The Underpants, a play centered on a fictional event in which a woman in 1910 Germany stands on tiptoe to watch the king pass in a parade ` and inadvertently drops her drawers.
`The audience will be surprised at how much they’ll laugh,` said Kurt Zischke, as he took five in a rocking chair in the Pearl Street lobby of the Albany theater.
Zischke plays Theo, the bureaucrat husband in `The Underpants` whose wife’s wardrobe malfunction has made her a celebrity. His concern that he will lose his job over the incident leads him to try to rent a room in their house ` which is sought after by men who witnessed the bloomer blooper.
`The show has outrageous, funny and cleanly etched characters,` Zischke said. `There’s also an undercurrent of depth ` the play will resonate with you.`
`The Underpants` is an updated version of a German play called `Die Hose` by Carl Sternheim, whose writings regularly addressed the state of fixed-minded, mid-level bureaucrats. The update comes from one of America’s more popular comedians ` Steve Martin.
`It’s still set in 1910 Germany, but there’s a nod toward contemporary things,` Zischke said. `It’s more about celebrity and less about class struggle.`
The play’s director, Michael Haney, said Martin brought more of a feminist angle into the play.
`Louise, the wife who loses her underpants, is young and innocent at the beginning,` Haney said. `She grows and learns a lot about her own power, and blossoms into a modern woman.`
Zischke praised Haney’s `deft hand` in presenting the play, and on the day after the first preview, both men were working to incorporate the audience’s reaction into their presentation of the show.
`I’m the audience’s surrogate,` Haney said of the rehearsal time. `The actors are savvy and smart, and they know what’s funny and what’s not. Still, the first audience’s reactions were so large, we’re tweaking the sound cues we couldn’t hear over the laughter.`
Haney, the associate artistic director at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, is in Albany for four weeks. He was last here to direct `The Syringa Tree,` also at Cap Rep. He recently directed `The Clean House,` which just opened at Lincoln Center.
`It’s interesting to work in a different space,` he said. `I like working with new people.`
At Cap Rep, the `thrust` stage provided Haney with the challenge of making sure all the audience could see the physical comedy taking place.
`This is a good play for Cap Rep,` Haney said. `The intimate theater is effective; it lets you see the subtleties of the piece.`
Haney also had high praise for the cast.
`It’s always nice when a cast gets along,` he said. `This cast is first-rate, and is bringing a lot of great energy to the stage. I hope the audience falls in love with them.`
Zischke said he was surprised to not know any of the other cast members in `The Underpants,` but `it turns out we all have the same friends,` he said with a grin.
Zischke and his wife, Victoria Adams Zischke, live with their 2-year-old daughter, Alexandra, in Beacon, Duchess County. Adams Zischke acts, too, which means `our bedroom is in Beacon, but the United States is our living room,` Zischke said. The Zischkes take their daughter with them when they’re performing, and hire a nanny in the town where they are performing.
`She’s 2 and has been to 25 states,` Zischke said.
He has also led a peripatetic life, born in San Francisco and moving to New York City after going to Stanford University. There, he studied with the acting teacher Sanford Meisner, and was his assistant. Today, Zischke works `90 percent in theater, and some film and television,` he said.
This is his second go-round as Theo in `The Underpants.`
`I last did it five plays, or about two years, ago,` Zischke said. `I like that Theo is unassailable in his own convictions, whether they’re right or wrong. A lot of the jokes are at his expense.`
Zischke said the play is fine for people 11 years old and up.
`It leaves most everything to the imagination,` he said.
`The Underpants` opens on Wednesday, Nov. 8, and will run until Saturday, Dec. 2. On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Cap Rep will host a socials night with complimentary hors d’oeuvres from downtown Albany restaurants, and pre-show entertainment at 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday, Nov. 15 and 22, there will be a post-show discussion after the 7:30 p.m. shows. On Thursday, Nov. 16, the Skyline restaurant across the street from the theater will host Thursday Night OUT, an event for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, for an extra $25 to be paid with ticket purchase. On Sunday, Nov. 26, there will be a discussion and complimentary continental breakfast at 1:30 p.m., before the Sunday matinee.
Regular showtimes for `The Underpants` will be 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 8 p.m. on Friday; 4 and 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Ticket cost between $34 and $42. For information or to purchase tickets, call 445-7469 or go online to capitalrep.org. “