'Brilliant Traces'

entertained, and we notice the
great gaping holes in the logical
fabric of the play. (Rosannah
wakes up after two days in a
stupor and doesn't use the toilet.
Then she has soup and tea.
And still she doesn't use the
toilet. My bladder was bursting
just thinking about it). Johnson's
mind is such that she
just doesn't get down to brass
tacks.
Everything remains kind of
fuzzy; the explanations for Hen-
ry burying.himself away in Alas-
ka and Rosannah running from
her groom don't convince. The
idea, Johnson
would have us
believe as sa-
cred, is that
love makes us
whole even
though it may
be a painful ex-
perience.
There are
moments
when Harry —
played by Jon
Bennett, who
has a hand-
some face and
a broad fore-
head one could
trust in — is
sorely tried by
his own pain
and the non-
sense put out
by Rosannah.
Berkman
plays Rosan-
nah with a lot
of whine,
Jon Bennett and Zehra Berkman star in Brilliant Traces, a one- which turns a
bit sour once
act play at Ann Arbor's Performance Network through July 27.
uncorked. Her
mantra, "I'm
For the first 10 minutes, not a very healthy person," is
Rosannah DeLuce, played accurate, though she can be
by Zehra Berkman, rants on in effectively zany and comic at
a funny monologue while blan- moments. At one point Rosan-
ket-clad Henry Harry,
nah says, "I have (al-
homesteader, just lis-
ways) relied on the long
THEATER
tens.
shot." Johnson has re-
This is a promising
lied on it too — that get-
note on which this long one-act ting in our good graces with
play begins. Boy-meets-girl and two interesting characters will
sexual tensions are strung out carry us along to the denoue-
over an elaborate plot, and these ment. But the abrupt ending
two people alternately attract (please, spell out "Play in One
and repel each other until "that Act, no Intermission" in the pro-
kiss" seals their bargain with gram) is a head-shaker. As Peg-
the playwright and the audi- gy Lee sang, "Is that all there
ence.
is?"
But neither Johnson, the cast,
nor the director have found a
way to keep us continuously

'Shall We Dance'

D

, uring the summer months
when you and I rent a cot-
tage, some theater-struck
folks rent a playhouse and
put on a show.
So it is that Bennett/Berkman
Productions has taken over Ann
Arbor's intimate Performance
Network for three weekends.
The show is 'called Brilliant
Traces. Written by Cindy Lou
Johnson, the play is high con-
cept meets cute: A runaway
bride from Arizona still wearing
her bridal gown stumbles into a
ramshackle house in Alaska.
During a white-out.

84

Michael H. Margolin writes about

the arts.

— Michael H. Margolin

Tamiyo Kusakari and Koji Yakusyo in Shall We Dance.

pressive outlet that Suo eventu- mystery woman, an instructor.
Without enough money to sign
ally turned into a film.
The result is Shall We Dance, up for Mai's private lessons,
i 1 apanese film director written and directed by Suo. Shohei decides on group in-
Masayuki Suo felt inspired Koji Yakusho, the handsome, struction, and finds himself in a
to make a love story. He memorable face in films such as significantly different situation
watched middle-aged busi- Tampopo, and last year's The than he had imagined. A terri-
nessmen on their evening train Sleeping Man, plays 42-year-old ble dancer in a class of poor
rides home from the office, and Shohei. Shohei takes the train dancers, then shunned by Mai,
imagined what they would yearn to and from work every
Shohei reassesses his in-
for: What was missing from their day. His job is plain,
tentions at the school,
MOVIES
lives, what would they desire to mostly, and his family
and begins to realize
fill it with?
what is truly missing from
life good. His wife and
At the same time, Suo began daughter love him, and he clear- his life.
to research an unusual trend ly loves them.
Part drama, but mostly corn-
that had begun making its way
But on his way home one edy, Shall We Dance won 14
through Japan: ballroom danc- evening; staring out the train awards at the Japanese equiva-
ing. In a society that has long window, he is struck by a woman lent of the Oscars, and there is
considered such activities em- he sees standing at a window. already talk of an Academy
barrassing, even disrespectful, Initially disregarding his cu- Award nomination in the Unit-
dancing has slowly grown in pop- riosity, Shohei soon finds him- ed States next winter.
ularity, earning respect as a so- self looking for her nightly, and
As a romance, a window into
cial, even fun, event.
becoming increasingly intrigued. Japanese society and a story of
It was this idea of people — Though obviously torn by his a man's reawakening, Shall We
most interestingly, older men — feelings, it is only a matter of Dance achieves just about every-
opening up to a physical, ex- time before Shohei finally acts thing it aims to.
upon his curiosity.
Jeffrey Hermann is associate
.1/2
The window by which she
editor at Visible Ink Press,
stands turns out to be in a ball-
publisher of VideoHound's
— Jeffrey Hermann
room dance school, and Mai, the
Golden Movie Retriever.

Rated R