02/23/2026
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By Louis B. Hobson
With its new farce, Whoβs Under Where?, Stage West has definitely stacked the deck.
This is a slight little s*x farce, but it features Anna Cu**er, Mark Bellamy, Camille Pavlenko and David Sklar, four of Calgaryβs finest actors. Their presence certainly raises the stakes, and they work to make the most of this silly little comedy of mistaken identities.
The first collaboration of writers Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes, Whoβs Under Where? is reminiscent of the British s*x farces of Ray Cooney. Itβs all about people trying to hide their real intentions only to find themselves backed into increasingly tricky corners.
Anne Pritchard (Cu**er) and Sybil Brunt (Pavlenko) have a small cottage industry of s*xy lingerie. Itβs underwear to everyone else, especially their husbands, but lingerie to the women. Bruno Fruferelli (Bellamy) has seen their female items and feels that if the male underwear is just as s*xy, he will invest in their endeavour. The women donβt want to tell their husbands until it is a done deal, just in case it falls through, so they pretend they are going to visit Anneβs mother. The men know this is not the case, and follow their wives to a luxurious hotel. They conclude their wives are either paying for s*xual favours or being paid for them, and the men are not sure which is worse.
A typical British s*x farce generally features sc****ly clad women, but Kash and Hughes have the men stripped down to the basics, and it gets the intended laughs.
Preston Vendramin is the s*xy young model, and he plays him as vacuously as possible. When he comes out in the Easter Bunny underwear back-to-front, itβs hilarious because he is so oblivious to his mistake, and when he thinks the husbands want him for a th*****me, his terror is palpable.
Dave Comeau as George Blunt has to wear the matador outfit, and he plays his reluctance to open his housecoat for maximum laughs. Earlier, Comeau dresses in lingerie, and itβs funny because he has a full beard. There is no attempt on his behalf to hide the fact, which makes it all the sillier.
Sklar, as Anneβs lawyer husband, gets into full drag, and from the moment he walks out from behind the dressing screen, he takes complete ownership of the stage. Itβs not just his outrageous outfit, but his confidence that is so much fun, especially when he has to pretend he is a mannequin. Bellamyβs Italian mogul becomes obsessed with the mannequin, and his interaction with Sklar makes for a vintage s*x farce.
Bellamy is such a consummate comedian that he can get a laugh just from the way he sits or struts, and the costume that Kiera Gemsa has given him may be all wrong for the time of year, but he works it like a pro.
Cu**er and Pavlenko do all the heavy lifting in this farce because Kash and Hughes have given the men all the best bits, including Curtis Sullivan as the security guard who develops a crush on Comeau. Itβs shtick straight out of Some Like It Hot, one of the best of the cross-dressing movies.
Cu**er, in the big blond wig, is reminiscent of the women from the British Carry On films, and Pavlenko is heavy on borrowing from the great British sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous. If only the writers had given them something equivalent to the men.
Anton deGrootβs set is a real eyecatcher, until you realize that there are no panes of glass on the balcony windows. Itβs a real head-shaker.
The play is funny to be certain, but it feels like there is even more laughter to be mined. Kash is not just a skilled writer, but an excellent director. Perhaps the next time they use one of her plays, Stage West will let her direct it.
From the punny title to the ridiculous slapstick, Whoβs Under Where?, with its dynamite cast, makes for ideal dinner theatre laughs.
