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A paper-thin plot that's rich in absurdity, mistaken identities
and misunderstood conversations!
There
follows half a dozen slamming doors, a male character in drag, a dizzy drunken blonde, and heaps of innuendo without overt
sexuality.
Things
kick off modestly as corporate execs John and David check into a golfing resort for a weekend
business retreat. Their wives are shopping in New York.
Complications
ensue when they meet D.L. Hutchison, the new female president of their company. The new boss believes that "anyone who
goes off on the weekend to play golf without their wife will never work for me."
The ‘Boss’
D.L Hutchinson is a naive corporate boss figure, priding herself on "knowing what's going on around me,"
but she's very often clueless. She insists that they bring their wives to the reception and won't take no for an answer! Fearing
the loss of their jobs, and presumably unable to retrieve their wives before an evening reception at 6pm, the two desperate
guys begin to construct their web of deception. Why not find 'stand-ins'
for the absent spouses?
John thus convinces
Tina, the club's sexy receptionist, to act as his wife. But there's no one appropriate for David,
so he persuades John to wear a wig and a dress and pretend to be his wife, while being himself when necessary.
Inevitably everything goes wrong as John moves in and out of bedrooms,
changing from male to female at a frantic pace.
Timing
is so important throughout the rapidly paced repartee that fills the play. At one point there is a four-phone conversation
with its multiple double-entendres.
Hilarious chaos ensues when the hotel phone system goes on the blink, the Receptionist,
Tina, has too much champagne and can't keep her clothes on!
The
Hotel Manager, Mrs. Carlson, likewise undergoes a change -- from uptight manager to an easily flattered would-be
fashion model.
Add to this, Wilson, the Club's hypochondriacally not-so-handyman. His bewilderment
increases at what he sees while visiting the resort's rooms and trying to fix the phone glitches.
In the middle of the second act, the real wives appear, and this multiplies
the confusions. A weepy Wife and a revenge-filled Wife adopt different ways of responding
to what they believe to be their philandering husbands.
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The Characters
JOHN BAKER
(age 35-40): A vice president of Ashley Maureen Cosmetics Corporation, successful with a kind and gentle nature. Allows himself
to be manipulated by the more dominant personality of DAVID. Alternates between the roles of himself and David's
"wife," and is caught up in a whirlwind of events beyond his control, but nevertheless manages to show
great strength of character and personality. (Hardworking, honest, straightforward and full of initiative.) DAVID McGACHEN (45-50): A distinguished looking man,
he has risen to become a vice president of The Ashley Maureen Cosmetics Corporation, more by guile and cunning than ability
and hard work. Relentless in his efforts to impress his new boss. he attempts to manipulate all those around him.
Even when his plan to create two alternative wives begins to unravel, he never gives up scheming and plotting, and always
seems to come up with "one more idea." (Clever and cunning, a relentless schemer)
TINA (age 20-30): The young pretty country club
receptionist. She is good at her job, impressing the guests with her smile and personality. Once she has been persuaded
to imprersonate John's wife, she embraces the role wholeheartedly- After a little too mjuch champagne,
she seems to have difficulty in keeping all her clothes on, and ends up at the heart of many of the visual sequences. (Bright,
sexy, a bubbly personality.) MRS.
CARLSON (age 45-55): The Club Manager. A straight-laced severe woman, who no doubt in a few years, will become
a typical "old battleaxe". At this stage in her life, she prefers to take the moral high ground, and does
not hesitate to preach the evils of sex and adultery. She sees herself as guardian of morality for the Club and makes
sure her guests know it (Dominant, bossy, efficient, yet rather likeable.)
WILSON (age 60+): The club handyman. He is the complete
and total hypochondriac. You name it, he suffers from it. An endearing and comic character, he lights up the stage at
his every entrance with his chronic complaints. Never very far from most of the comic sequences, he is a pivotal character
who observes all the madcap happnings going on around him. (Likeable, funny, with a great sense of humour.)
D.L. HUTCHINSON (age 45-50): The new President
of Ashley Maureen Cosmetics Corporation. She is bright, smart and self-assured with a "take-charge" nature.
She is the "straight man" of the plot, for whose benefit the "duplicate wives" have been produced.
She is a somewhat overbearing character, serious in nature, who at all times, is all business. She is finally revealed
to be a duplicitous hypocrite in the suprise ending. (Smart attractive, efficient and personable.) CARLY McGACHEN (age 40ish): She is quite a strong
character, who reacts in a strong and forceful way to the apparent infidelity of her husband David.
Determined to make him jealous, she makes a play for the reluctant Wilson. (Determined calculating, yet with a tender
side.)
LAURA
BAKER (age 30 - 40): A pretty little thing, who is somewhat dominated by the stronger character of Carly,
she is simple soul, who just wants to love and be loved by her husband John. She never quite
understands what is going on around her. She cries at the drop of a hat, and spends much of the time on stage in tears.
(Tender loving and naive.)
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