SUZANNE RANKIN and John Price rehearse “I’m Herbert” from Lincoln County Community Theater’s “Sex in the 60s: An Evening of FourPlay(s).” The production opens March 2.
The production “ takes a humorous look at the familiar yet often taboo subject of sex, filtered through the lens of the 1960s, when the prudish 1950s were giving way to birth control and free love,” a release from the theater company states. “While the four one-act plays have a different take on the subject of sex, from nudity and single beds, to sex therapy and old age, the subject of marriage is at the heart of all four.”
Three of the four plays derive from a collection by Robert Anderson called “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running,” first performed in 1967.
The release describes the plays as follows:
In “Shock of Recognition,” playwright Jack Barnstable ( Thom Watson) auditions Richard Pawling ( Wayne Otto) for a role that requires nudity, but in the most benign way imaginable, while a husband is brushing his teeth, prompting the comment, “You know I can’t hear you when the water’s running.”
Producer Herb ( Bill Vaughn) isn’t sure audiences are ready, even for everyday nudity, and tests his skepticism on his secretary Dorothy (Kendray Welsh), who prudishly demonstrates his point.
“The Footsteps of Doves” features Harriet (Jane Gear) and George (Kit Hayden), a married couple shopping for twin beds after 25 years of marriage. As George explains to the salesman (Ron Aho), “The longest distance in the world is the distance between twin beds,” Harriet insists that George “wade across the Persian Gulf ” to show he’s making an effort.
While Harriet is in another room shopping for headboards, George engages in conversation, and testing beds, with Jill ( Elizabeth Chasse), a recently divorced younger woman who shares his views on the “good old 54 inch” and gets him thinking differently about everything, including his marriage.
“Dr. Fish” involves Charlotte ( Nancy Durgin), a repressed wife on the verge of a nervous breakdown about her sex life, and her blue-collar husband Marty ( Nick Buck), who doesn’t have a clue that anything is wrong.
Charlotte seeks counsel from Dr. Fish (Denis Walsh), who despite his degree in American history and his phobia about being touched, is passionate about sex and has written a book on the subject, which Charlotte has eagerly devoured.
While asking some probing questions, “Dr. Fish” insists that Charlotte utter the word referring to her husband’s anatomy that she is unable to say, but finally does with great enthusiasm. “Pppppp… “ “There, now don’t you feel better?”
He encourages Marty to have sex with the lights on to please his wife, to which Marty replies, “Doc, do you know how much my light bill is each month?”
To this off- color mix the playwright, Murray Schisgal, adds Mrs. Fish ( Vanessa Barth), Dr. Fish’s dotty grandmother, who keeps popping in to offer lunch, much to the dismay of Dr. Fish. Marty, on the other hand, greatly appreciates her lentil soup, sympathetic ear, and motherly attention.
The final play, “ I’m Herbert,” is a scattered conversation between Herbert (John Price) and Muriel (Suzanne Rankin), an elderly couple whose attempts to remember their early relationship is a hilarious who’s- on- firstwhat’s on- second sketch of marriage and old age.
Al D’Andrea, the founding director of the Snowlion Repertory Company in Portland, directs “Sex in the 60s.”
Show times are March 2, 3, 9 and 10 at 7: 30 p. m., and March 4 and 11 at 2 p.m.
Tickets, which cost $12 for adults or $10 for members, are available at the Lincoln Theater and at The Maine Coast Bookshop. For reservations and information, call the Lincoln Theater at 563-3424.
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