'Boeing, Boeing' at Gordon set in troubled '60s

While the machinations of the French farce Boeing Boeing curtail updating it from its Swinging '60s setting, Steve Walpert, currently staging a production of the play at the Fort Gordon Dinner Theatre, said its Mad Men environs are also part of the appeal.

The play revolves around Bernard, a serial womanizer who maintains a string of three air hostess (as they were known) fiances through the careful manipulation of flight schedules. His schedule begins to unravel just as a buddy from home comes calling.

Mr. Walpert said essential elements of the play include a pre-printed flight schedule and a land-line telephone. He noted that modern technology -- the Internet, smart phones and Facebook for instance -- make this an impossible play to update.

"There are certain shows, certain period plays, that just can't be updated," he said. "This is one. It really does depend on being set in this specific time and this primitive technology."

The play, according to the cast, also depends on accepted societal norms of the period. Wes Hennings, who plays the morally suspect Bernard, said his character probably couldn't exist in contemporary society. "If this was 2009, everyone would hate him," he said. "They would hate him and the play would be over with a single cell phone call."

The popularity of the Mad Men television series, set in a similar time period, helps the production, the cast said. Because Mad Men reacquainted audiences with cultural touchstones now nearly 50 years old, Boeing Boeing can play for an audience fully briefed on the sharp suits, cocktail carts and moral ambiguity of the period.

"It's helpful to us and the audience," said Karen Brotherton, who plays the bubbly American stewardess Janet Hawkins. "There are a lot of things understood, a lot of things that don't need to be spelled out." Part of the fun, Ms. Brotherton said, is embracing the very particular sense of style and design of the period.

"I mean, when is it not cool to be swanky," she said. "It's what makes this fun."

Contact Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626 or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com