Review: SEX PLEASE, WE'RE SIXTY Sells Out YLT

SEX PLEASE, WE'RE SIXTY sounds like the title of a farce, and it is one. It's generated by classic farce scripters Michael Parker and Susan Parker, Floridians who have also given the world WHOSE WIVES ARE THEY ANYWAY? and THE SENSUOUS SENATOR, as well as SEX, SIN AND THE CIA, which has had some traction in this area in the past. In other words, as you can gather from the titles, the Parkers are crafters of that specific style, the bedroom farce.

From BOEING, BOEING to RUN FOR YOUR WIFE, Americans love bedroom farces, and SEX PLEASE is no exception - the production at York Little Theatre was sold out from the start. Like the best of the classic British bedroom farces, SEX PLEASE is all tease and no delivery, especially given that the plot involves Bud the Stud, who's having a Viagra shortage. But the point is, a bedroom farce at its best is never explicit on stage, and rarely obscene; sex is funny, but talking about it, rather than watching it, is funnier. Andrea M. Stephenson's production on the YLT stage was a classic of that very idea; though Rose Cottage's bedroom doors are visible, they're rarely open, and one never sees past the neatly appointed lobby that was charmingly designed by Stephenson.

That lobby and tea nook is where Mrs. Stancliffe, owner and proprietess of Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast, welcomes both her new and returning clients, and where Bud "the Stud" Davis attempts to sell his charm, romantic ways, and alleged - apparently very alleged - sexual prowess to the female clientele. Stancliffe, a hard-nosed, time-obesessed Yankee business woman, is played with a straight face and stiff spine by Dixie Smith, who gives every impression of having no interest in anything except business. Bud, on the other hand, as played by James Robert Clark, is the human Pepe Le Pew, a creature with no time for anything but romance, and as much of it as possible. His only problems are a lack of a schedule for his amorous endeavors and his need for little blue pills as assistance.

Stancliffe's life is made harder by her would-be suitor, retired research scientist Henry (Rick Osborne), who's invented a female Viagra that he hopes will thaw Stancliffe. But it might also assist Bud with new guest Victoria, a romance writer with a boring and romance free real life, with returning guest Charmaine, a Southern belle who needs no assistance anyway, or with the visiting Hillary, who is really there to help Henry test his new drug, "Venusia". Since this is a farce, clearly Venusia will wind up in the wrong people at the wrong times, with disastrous and room-hopping results, and so it does.

Guests Victoria, Hillary, and Charlene are played, respectively, by JUNE Hoak, Patee Pizzirusso, and Becky Wilcox, who managed to perfect her drawl in last season's ALWAYS... PATSY CLINE. All three characters are delightful, but Wilcox is particularly amusing as the over-stimulated sweet pea, Charmaine. Some of the best moments involve Charmaine using Henry to model romantic moments for a love-scene-impaired Victoria, and Bud's "discovering" that Victoria's latest manuscript is written about him. Others involve Stancliffe's obsessive notation of the exact times of conversations, and just how many seconds she'll have to be away from someone. Nonetheless, nothing can compare to Bud's discovery that he might be out of Viagra.

Like any other bedroom farce, it's hardly a weighty or philosophical play, but purely for laughs, which the audience had no trouble finding. It's too much for a younger child to understand or enjoy, but it's not too embarrassing for late teens to see around adults. Most particularly, the play, and the cast here, are reminders to all of us that sex and romance don't die out at thirty or forty, and everyone has a shot at it. Especially when Bud is in the area.

Up next at YLT, THE TAFFETAS, a girl-group musical directed by Christopher Quigley. For tickets and information, visit www.ylt.org.

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