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| L-R: Matt Sheahan and Dan March in Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain. Photo by Lidia Crisafulli. |
Broad,
slapstick British humor may not be everybody’s cup of tea but if it does happen
to be yours, you might want to catch The Real MacGuffins (Dan March, James
Millard and Matt Sheahan) in Instructions
for American Servicemen in Britain, currently enjoying its US premiere as
part of this year’s Brits Off Broadway
program at 59E59 Theaters on East 59th Street in midtown Manhattan. The Real MacGuffins, a leading sketch group
on the British comedy circuit, adapted Instructions
for American Servicemen in Britain from a pamphlet of the same name issued
by the Americn War Office in 1942 to prepare GIs being sent to England during
World War II for the idiosyncrasies of British (life ranging from cricket to
the country’s inclement weather and from the near-incomprehensibility of the
British monetary system to Brits’ predilection for warm beer).
The play
takes place in 1942 when a horde of American GIs have arrived in England only
to be confronted by a people ostensibly speaking the same language as Americans
do but with so many customs so different from our own as to make social intercourse
immensely difficult. Two American officers,
Lieutenant Schultz (James Millard) and Colonel Atwood (Dan March) have been
given the responsibility of instructing the newly-arrived American troops and they
are joined in their effort by a British officer, Major Gibbons (Matt Sheahan).
The
characters are just what we have come to expect in British productions of this
genre. Lieutenant Schultz is another
version of Jack Armstrong. Colonel
Atwood is the Iowa farm boy who has risen through the ranks but still remembers
the dance steps to “kick the pig.” And
Major Gibbons is the relatively effete officer whose mother (also played by
James Millard) still embarrasses him by telling his associates of the ballet
lessons he took as a child.
The play breaks
no new ground. The characters are stereotypical
and caricature-ish. But that is not to
say that they aren’t entertaining for they most certainly are. Moreover, all three performers are consummate
comedians and, at least at the performance I attended, the audience really seemed
to love them and to enjoy the show.
