On the stage of the Globe Theater, men commonly played women who dressed up as men and were later revealed as women. On the stage of Markel Auditorium however, the Shakespearean formula has been reversed.
“In ‘Merry Wives of Windsor,’ we have two women who are playing men who are disguised as women at the end of the play,” said the show’s director, Professor of Theatre George Angell. “It’s an exact Shakespearean gender inversion.”
While the Hillsdale College theatre department frequently casts women in roles written for males, they seldom play men, referred to as having a “pants role.” Rather, the role is simply adapted for a female, Angell said.
“Theater is a big game of ‘Let’s pretend’ and ‘Let’s pretend’ with the audience too. Once they know the rules, they’ll play along,” he said. “You just want to make whatever you’re doing work.”
The last time a female donned a trouser role in the Hillsdale theater department was in the 2006 production of ‘Tartuffe.’
“We had a lot of fun with that mustache,” Angell said. “There were quite a few people who never even realized we had a female in that role.”
Suiting Up
A woman playing a man still has to solve the same problems and answer the same questions about their character as any other actor, Angell said. How to walk, talk, sit, and stand are all elements of creating a believable character as well as understanding the character’s motivations.
“I’m starting to notice all of these little things I’m going to have to change, down to the way I stand,” said junior Kyra Moss, who is one of two women playing pants roles in Merry Wives. “But the clown part is probably harder.”
Moss and senior Caitlyn Hubbard will play Peter Simple and John Rugby, two clown roles described by Angell as “galumphing buffoon servants.”
“The only person in this play who is stupider than John Rugby is Peter Simple, and no-one anywhere is stupider than Peter Simple,” Moss said.
“Every sitcom has a dumb character, and I always look at them and think ‘No one is that stupid.’ But I really am. And it’s a comedy, so everything’s over-the-top. I just have to make sure I’m not too over-the-top. It’s a challenge.”
Moss and Hubbard have been friends since high school, Moss said.
“It’s really fun working with her. We’ve been joking around with each other since tenth grade.”
The Birth of “Pants”
Pants roles first originated in the world of opera, after the castrati fell out of favor with the Catholic Church, and the public at large, around the time of Mozart and Rossini.
“It was seen as unnatural,” musicologist and Professor of Music Renee Clark said.
“Up until then, the castrati were the heroes. That was their role.
Since the music was written for a voice in the female range, producers had two options, “They could transpose the role, which would create an imbalance in the music, or let the women take over,” Clark said. “And that is how we ended up with pants roles.”
Composers such as Mozart and Verdi also intentionally wrote pants roles for comedic effect, having women sing as un-bearded youths, such as Cherubino in “The Marriage of Figaro.”
In order to perform these classic musical masterpieces, mezzo-sopranos and contraltos assume pants roles in Hillsdale’s Opera Workshop or in private voice lessons.
Sophomore Katie Gordon is one such singer, playing the Roman tyrant Nero in “Pur ti Miro” from Monteverdi’s “Coronation of Poppea” last year.
“It was quite a stretch for me, because I’m really quite ladylike, but I enjoy playing roles outside of my comfort zone,” Gordon said. “A lot of people would be kinda funny about it. I don’t know, it was still fun.”
Working It
Sometimes people find it odd to see women dressed up as men or men singing that high, Clark said. “But what can I say? It’s theater. There are people dressed up as other people all across the stage.”
At the very least, pants roles mean that actresses in period plays don’t have to bother maneuvering huge skirts across the stage.
“And that’s a good thing,” said Moss. “Just me. Walking around in my pants. Like I usually do.”
vcooney@hillsdale.edu