MANILA, Philippines - In varying degrees of clumsiness, the four lead actresses of the upcoming QTV sitcom, ?You Women? take turns falling off a slippery sofa?for the camera.

This episode can well be titled, ?Variations on a pratfall.?

Assunta de Rossi?s version is ditzy yet sexy; Tuesday Vargas?, tragi-comic; Kalila Aguilos?, imperiously elegant; and Candy Pangilinan?s ? well, it can only be described as ?The Exorcist,? breakdancing.

Like ?Camera Café,? ?You Women? is based on a French program and runs for three minutes, says director Mark Meily, who megs both shows with French producer Henri de Lorme.

Mark and Henri are tapping the same talent pool that they work with on ?Camera Café,? now in its third season and aired on GMA 7 and QTV 11.

??You Women? requires a lot of physical comedy,? Mark explains. ?That?s the reason it?s successful in Europe. It transcends language.?

A pratfall is universal, yes. ?Even if you export the Philippine version to Singapore or Indonesia, it will still work. People will still find it funny.? Mark says ?You Women? is the first local version outside of France.

?The original ?Vous Les Femmes? is in its second season in France,? Mark relates. ?Upon seeing it, Henri immediately wanted to adapt it for the Philippine market.? When they presented the concept to GMA 7, Mark and Henri were greeted with enthusiasm.

?GMA execs are very excited. They love the idea,? Henri recounts.

Just as enthusiastic is Assunta. ?In our country,? she notes, ?it?s rare for women to get lead roles in a sitcom. Usually, comedy is reserved for men; women are just supporting characters.?

Decorative?

Not on this show, asserts Assunta. ?We?re allowed to do lots of crazy stuff.?

Mark says the show will present its female characters in different comic situations: ?As working girls, moms, athletes, lovers on a date...?

Center stage

Yes, women take center stage and the men, like Arnold Reyes and Christian Vasquez, are only too happy to play second banana.

?We?re here to bring out the best in them,? says Arnold.

Kalila notes that the show encourages them to stretch their comedic muscles, in more ways than one.

?It?s almost like theater,? Kalila elaborates. ?Onstage, we are trained to improvise. Same thing about this show... we don?t have to rehearse repeatedly. We only need to be in the moment.?

Candy agrees: ?Since we have only three minutes, we have to give our all right away. We can?t hold back. We can?t fake it. We can?t be pa-cute.?

Tuesday, who watched the French original like her co-stars, was initially daunted by the material.

?The French are very uninhibited,? she points out. ?No-holds-barred comedy?if you have to take off your clothes and lie down in the middle of the street, so be it. That?s very challenging for us. We have no choice but push our boundaries as actors.?

The show?s first season, which consists of 65 episodes, is set to premiere in July or August, says Henri.

(E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com)