Venice Theatre’s Leading Ladies carries on the rich tradition of theatrical cross-dressing.
By Kay Kipling
And that is a farce, complete with the time-honored tradition of cross-dressing men, that throws together elements of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the venerable Charley’s Aunt and a few other recognizable literary/stage antecedents. Here’s the story: Two down-on-their-luck Shakespearean actors, Leo (Matt Erickson) and Jack (Eric Schneider), get wind of a dying woman looking for two long-missing heirs (actually, they get the full lowdown when a young blond bombshell literally—and coincidentally—skates into their train compartment bursting with news). Leo, the more aggressive and risk-taking of the two, decides they can easily fake their way into the inheritance, but it gets more complicated when they find out that the heirs-to-be are not really Max and Steve, but Maxine and Stephanie. Cue the long dresses and high heels to come out of the battered stage suitcase.
Eric Schneider and Matt Erickson do double duty in Venice Theatre’s Leading Ladies.