'Oleanna'

'

ill Harris' Riffs, which just yard, Groove and Tupelo build a
opened at the Attic Theatre, long, elaborate riff, a baroque op-
is — as T. Mims, the play's of- eratic duet with plenty of orna-
ficial spokesman to the audi- mentation.
ence tells us — about telling
At the end of the act, T. Mims
stories. It's about four African- says of the brick barbecue, "It's not
American men sitting around just a barbecue — it's a letter from
telling tall tales to each other, and home." Harris has an ear for lan-
we are privileged interlopers.
guage and a tongue to produce it
There are three members of an ("It was so dark the snowflakes
informal club, retired from work, couldn't see to hit the ground"),
but not life. Still meeting, they are and it's a pleasure to hear. The
sewing up the quilt of their lives, show, under two hours, is talk, just
joining the old days of high living talk. As anyone who recently saw
and hi finks and the new, ofbask- The Piano Lesson at Meadow
ing and remembering. T. Mims is Brook knows, talk is playwright
also working on his rela-
power.
tionship with his son;
Council Cargle as T.
they've been estranged,
THEATER
Mims has a burnished
and the fact that he calls
voice, full of octaves, and,
him wrom-Tom" and his
in the comparatively
ex-wife insists on
small role, he makes you
"Thomas" tells us much
wish for more. As the
about that story.
new recruit, Clayborn,
Set in two acts, the
Harold Hogan is slightly
first takes place just af-
wary, then warms up,
ter the death of one-
turning into a first-class
fourth of the quartet. A
MICH AEL H.
barbecue pit maker.
new member, Clayborn,
Act II, which is the
MAR GOLIN
is being auditioned, un-
capstone ofRiffs' struc-
SPECIA L TO THE
beknownst to him. At
ture of talk, must be all
JEWIS H NEWS
the end of that first
legato, seamless story-
scene, he's in. The next
telling, dead-on hitting of
scene gets down to business, com- the high notes one after the oth-
paring and swapping more tales er in the long, funny story about a
from the past.
robbery gone awry and its farcical
In this first act, Harris lets us consequences. Alas, it is as flat as
know these men, these Detroiters a pancake at a steamroller picnic.
who take pride in remembering Michael Jay as Tupelo and Her-
Six Mile Willie, China Red and man McCain as Groove deliver the
Bermuda Mohawk. He also lets speeches in a halting, fumbling
us in on traditions among the cul- way.
ture: of weaving folk tales and in-
Some of this is, perhaps, open-
cidents into myth. A little ing-night jitters; some is definitely
embellishment? Of course. T. two actors who do not know their
Mims, in fact, tells us that
lines. Once they're
Groove and Tupelo prob-
learned and the show
Left to right:
ably rehearse before the Herman McCain, plays a bit, this may well
get-togethers.
right itself and make
Harold Hogan,
Act II takes us deeper
Council Cargle Riffs' "letter from home"
into the life. While T. and Michael Jay a document to remem-
Minis and Clayborn build share life stories ber.
in the Attic
a barbecue pit in Tom-
Tom's suburban back Theatre's Riffs.

B

THE DETR OIT J EWISH NEWS

@c)

80

avid Mamet's seductive and
frightening play has finally
made it to Detroit in a vi-
brant production at Detroit
Repertory Theatre. Bruce Milian
has directed skillfully, letting it
reel us in until we are hooked and
flapping out of the water.
Set in two short acts and three
scenes, the play is about three
characters: a college professor,
male; a student, female; and a
telephone — various unheard
voices — which punctuates the
action nervously, insistently.
The student is willfully and ag-
gressively querulous: she's come
to see the professor about her
poor grade on a paper. She
protests she doesn't understand.
He explains, over and over, dig-
ging his heels in. His pride, per-
haps arrogance, will not allow
him to let it go. He forces the is-
sue; he makes the mistake of say-
ing she's angry, and he's not her
father. Which makes her angry.
He keeps explaining and asking,
"Don't you see?"
In Act II, we see what she saw
— in between his earnest appeals
to her intelligence. She saw sex-
uality and bias in his arrogance.
She felt keen frustration and saw
him as an aggressor. She has
made a case to the tenure com-
mittee. She now says to him,
"Don't you see?" He says, "I don't

D

insufferable), each hu-
man relationship is dif-
ferent, and rape dances
to the tune of its partic-
ipants. So why not these
differences?
Chris Ann Voudoukis
is quite marvelous as the
avenging angel. She has
a frank, direct quality as
an actress (evident, re-
cently, as Miep, in JETs
Diary of Anne Frank).
She becomes terrifying
in her rage; her Act II
speeches are unsettling.
As John, the intellec-
tual twit, Harry Wetzel
is tremendously con-
vincing as a beaten
man. Watching him
sink into his chair as
Carol offers him terms
Chris Ann Voudoukis and Harry Wetzel
is
upsetting
— like an insect im-
are entrenched in emotional and
paled by pins. In Act I he seems
physical struggles in David Mamet's
a bit out of breath, doesn't quite
Oleanna.
have the expansive rhythm of the
understand."
secure tenant of the ivory tower.
This parable of harassment Still, all in all, it is a telling per-
and rape as power, of intellectu- formance.
al pride becoming politi-
Plays of ideas which
cal aggression, is a beaut.
play as good theater are
THEATER
If; in this production, the
rare; this is no empty-
scales are tipped a bit ear-
headed shocker. It engages
ly (the student may give up too the gut and the mind.
much in Act I where Mamet's off-
® qt,)
Broadway production made Car-
ol whinier and the professor more
— Michael H. Margolin

'Sgt. Bilko'

Rated PG

tten-hut! Seeing a rerun of
the '50s sitcom "The Phil
Silvers Show" won't help
your children appreciate
director Jonathan Lynn's
film adaptation, Sgt. Bilko. See-
ing the film, however, will en-
able adults to appreciate the
original comedy series. Yes, de-
spite comprising the comedic
talents of Steve Martin, Dan
Aykroyd and Phil Hartman,
Sgt. Bilko deserves to be court-
martialed.
You may remember the orig-
inal Sgt. Bilko. Gambling, ram-
bling and rebellious, he enjoyed
breaking Army rules to make a
quick buck almost as much as
he loved his men, who, in turn,
were equally grateful to be sta-
tioned at Bilko's laid-back mo-
tor pool.
The premise for the '90s ver-
sion is very similar, except that

A

PHOTO BY RON BATZOOR FF

'Riffs

Dan Aykroyd, left, and Steve Martin star in the remake of "The Phil Silvers" show.

instead of Silvers, Martin car-
ries the title role. With only the
earnest but incompetent
Colonel Hall (Dan Aykroyd) to
answer to, Bilko and his
(wo)men are up to their usual

stunts, which can be summed
up in three words: gambling,
partying and more gambling.
Even the arrival of tightwad re-
cruit Pfc. Wally Holbrook (Daryl
Mitchell) fails to put much of a