Arts preview: Boeing-Boeing highlights the sexual mores of the high-flying 1960s
Vanessa Yung
Patric Kearns, artistic director of British-based company talking Scarlet, says he is happy not to play the protagonist in his adaptation of by French playwright Marc Camoletti.
That comes as a bit of a surprise, given that protagonist Bernard gets to fool around with three fiancées, all of whom are gorgeous flight attendants. Kearns plays his best friend Robert who, with the housekeeper, does all the covering up.
"As an actor, I'm not really a Bernard," says Kearns, who is also directing the play. "He has to be incredibly charming. But Ben Roddy, who plays Bernard, is a natural playboy, and far more handsome than me. So he was better casting.
"Besides, Robert actually gets to kiss the girlfriends more than Bernard does, so it's a win-win situation."
An innocent victim caught up in the mess during a surprise visit, Robert tries hard to help his old school friend out of a difficult situation to which he appears to be oblivious. But eventually he begins to enjoy himself, as all three women start to show amorous feelings towards him.
"The play is very much a thing of the 1960s, when the job of air hostess was considered very glamorous. So we have set the play in the 1960s, when it was written," says Kearns. "Viewed as a period piece, it's interesting to see how views have changed over the past 50 years, especially towards women."
First staged in London in 1962, Kearns says has only recently come back into fashion. It has been re-interpreted, and that has freshened up the script, he adds.
"During the 1980s, I'm guessing the comedy would have been viewed as old-fashioned, and possibly sexist. But now we have come full circle, and the play can be seen as a product of its time. The mark of any good comedy is how it stands the test of time," says Kearns, who adds his favourite scene is when two of the air hostesses are together in the same flat for the first time.
"There are seven doors opening and closing at a ferocious speed as Bernard, Robert and Bertha, the maid, try to invent ways to stop them from meeting," says Kearns.
"It's very physical comedy and it is very funny. There is nothing more rewarding for an actor than hearing a large audience become hysterical with laughter."
HKAPA Drama Theatre, 1 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, April 9-12, 7.45pm, April 12 and 13, 3pm. HK$295-HK$695 HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 2547 7150
