PAGE TWO THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUtTR.4ZY1AV T,'VIUM2TAst'Ir 0 rnoo PA E T OTE---G N D I Y TK TIC~ ~ b a ii ;tt t Y, kulsRUARY 8, 1968 8 theatre Strindberg Duo Intense arts festival Positively Ends TONIGHT FTmr2nm.a Live American Drama Exciting; SHOWS AT 1,3,5, 7, 9 P.M. "The Tension Is Terrific !" h I -m- -. rte. By BETSY SMITH Strindberg's one-act play "The Stranger" (being presented with "The Ghost Sonata" by the Uni- versity Players) is obviously in- tended as a theatrical tour de force. One character merely serves a cup of hot chocolate and passes off-stage forever; another sits at a table, sips wine, reads a paper, smokes a cigarillo, and laughs or frowns; the third and last car- ries the whole burden of verbal expression. The emotional climate, how- ever, is complex and intense, for in the course of her extended monologue Mrs. X shifts the power from herself to Miss Y and back again. This is accomplished through a rambling survey of past events which serve to skillfully character- ize the silent woman from two op- posite points of view-both that of a humble underdog to a haughty idol, and that of an arrogant suc- cess to a petty, tarnished failure. Paula Marchese carried off her difficult monologue with great aplomb. She never made the all- too-easy error of rushing the part, even though she had to pace her- self. Although Paula Francis' range of facial expression was somewhat limited, she never seemed to be responding inappropriately. To vivacious an attitude might have seemed out of character -- the masklike look fitted well into the conception unfolding from Mrs. X's probing analysis. Strindberg's interest in masks and in shifting currents of power is also displayed in "The Ghost Sonata." A vision, a dead man and a mummy stand as expressionless reminders of the presence of the unseen and "abnormal" in the midst of life, while other char- acters stare fixedly at their re- flections, at empty space, or at the audience. Characters do not face one an- other while speaking; their emo-I' tions derive from some inner im-Inherits, T perative hidden from immediate sight and only slowly revealed By DAVID SPURRE through painful exegesis of the Live theatre in America. It's past and stripping away of one probably something that reminds another's pretense. you of little summer theatres set Mrs. X blurred and refocused in up in dusty barns, sugary Broad- front of the audience, changing way musicals that you can buy from a woman unsure and half- hysterical with anxiety to a trium- phant and mature being. Similarly Old Man Hummel skillfully mani- pulates his image so that at first he seems a demonic Hercules de- spite his wheelchair, but eventual- ly loses control of the situation and shrivels to defeat. The sets are remarkably true to the spirit of the play. Everything is stripped, stark, terrifying simple. There is talk of color but black and white predominate, making the Cook's bloodstained apron a shocking contrast. All parts are well done. Those who merely stand while others speak must remain perfectly still: Virginia Cook, Lawrence Fisher and Paula Francis (who did an- other long stint of sitting and be- ing quiet in "The Stronger") scarcely stir and provide good backdrop for the more active players. The leads are well-chosen for their parts. Old Man Hummel, played by Robert Elliott, has theI vocal depth, stocky size, and crotchety demeanor needed for a character who must project his personality from a seated position. Mark Metcalf, who often plays in- nocent strength (he was the gold- en gloves champ in Tennessee William's "Camino Real") con- vinces absolutely in his part as the idealistic student, mouthpiece for the fancy "philosophy" of the play, such as it is.j The Mummy, Donna Spaan, has virtuoso control over her voice box: her screams and cries res- onate and fade, her laughter is brittle without seeming forced (and this in a play with all too much forced laughter). ); the records to, or your little sis- ter's Christmas pageant at the local junior high. John Houseman, and he should know, doesn't envision that at' all for the future of American theatre. "There is only one theatre and there is only one world," said the 66-year-old dramatist and motion picture producer. He spoke last night of the con- temporary American theatre as something with "exhilarating and ranscends Tradition the old director called a "whirling bellion. But in past and other cul- about in all directions."-repertory tures, the theatre has evolved theatres, theatre of the absurd, through a pattern of rebellions theatre of cruelty, 'freakouts,' hap- against theatrical tradition. The penings, and theatre-in-the-round. "winds blowing through our thea- It's all part of our attempt to es- tre today" fail to relate to any old cape the conventional mode of pattern of tradition. That is why reality-what Houston calls "na- American theatre has to try to turalism." embrace the theatrical traditions And this is, ineed, theatrical re- of the entire world. B eckley 'Unloads Cultural Debris, Fragmented Images's "Keeps You Glued To Your Seat !" --MICHIGAN DAILY ~s L Mi UNTIL DARK I' Friday: W. C. FIELDS CARNIVAL HELD OVER! Rseph Losey n Color I1 TEAR ANIATF 1 I RIlllAl lI