Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, March 15, 1968 PageTwoTHE ICHGAN AIL theatre Jude': A Speech Department Success, By FRITZ LYON Reviewing a student play- wright is like judging an Olym- pic fighter - is he a promis- ing amateur or a second-rat.e boxer? Are his faults due to inexperience or lack of ability? Are the good punches luck or skill? The first job is to define your viewpoint. If you tend to make allowances for weak points and emphasize student playwright, you indulge the author with gratuitous praise. If you em- phasize student playwright and contrast the author unfavor- ably with Beckett or Pinter, he suffers from your self-indul- gence. The critical problem concerns how much weight you give to the author's stage of development. Richard Reichman's Jude, the original play now being performed by the University Players at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, will probably not reach Broadway this year, nor will its author be likely to win A look at. jElvira Madigan' by Daniel Okrent WHENCLAUDE LELOUCH'S A Man and a Woman came to Ann Arbor a year ago last fall, the audience reaction was personified in the block-long lines that queued up outside the Campus Theatre, all waiting for a chance to see Anouk Aimee brush the hair out of her eyes with the exquisite grace of a Woman In Love. Miss Aimee did a fine job,. and maybe A Man and a Woman was worth the long lines; but Elvira Madigan, a Swedish product also at the Campus, deserves much more. Lelouch did a nice job of painting in A Man and a Woman, and he did portray a love story, but as Lord Byron might have writ- ten it. Lelouch did not establish any kind of depth; his characters were merely in love, they did not engage in the necessarily con- comitant agony of love. Bo Widerberg, who directed Elvira Madigan, again addresses himself to a love story, with two very good actors (PiarDegermark and Thommy Berggren) playing the principles. They are two run- aways from] earlier lives who attempt to love in an atmosphere entirely divorced from the intrusion of other persons or external influences. And, in this attempt, Widerberg displays his superiority over Lelouch; he presents a love that exists far deeper than the mere superficialities of touching hands and gazing eyes. THE TROUBLE WITH Elvira, a famous continental circus performer, and Sixten, an aristocratic Swede who has deserted both his family and his nation's army, is that as difficult as it is for the love to survive in a vacuum, it would be impossible for them in the society from where they have escaped. So, they must travel the Swedish countryside, reveling in their exquisite togetherness. But, as the vain impracticality of their situation becomes in- creasingly evident with the pains of constant running, Widerberg starts to weave his artistry. He uses some of the best devices of timing and parallelism that I have ever seen. For instance: The couple is in a wide, open field. They smile at each other as they romp in the grass. They both chase after butterflies, reaching out at the elusive objects just as they long- ingly stare at each other. They do not catch the butterflies, nor will they be able to catch each other in any kind of permanence. Or: The couple becomes cranky with each other. The ravishes of gnawing hunger (they have no money, and the easily recognizable Sixten dare not try to find a job) have begun to grate their nerves. As the edge of tension finally breaks down with Sixten's loving gesture, the silence that had encompassed the entire scene vanishes with the haunting refrain of a Mozart -concerto. Or: Sixten is depressed, gloomy. He walks away toward the nearby seashore. Between the viewer and Sixten, the screen is lush and rich-colored (the photography in this film is nothing short of remarkable). Beyond the depressed figure, however, is the endless expanse of the white sea. There are two entirely different spheres of emotion, both converging on Sixten. Each of these devices is employed regularly throughout the film in an astonishingly balanced cadence, expected each time and perhaps heightened in effectiveness because of this. Together, they compose a lush, idyllic narrative that even in its grossly tragic end, retains a pastoral logic, an ultimate sense. the Nobel Prize the year after, but it is certainly superior to last year's Cowboy in Absen- tia (ugh). While he was on campus, Reichman was regarded as one of those young writers who had the potential and, given the op- portunity, as one of the few who might break into the open. His earlier short plays show a mastery of form and a com- mand of dialogue - the people said precisely what he wanted them to, and the plays said concisely what he wanted them to. However, these plays were often long on craft and short on life. His subject field (phil- osophy) became his subject matter, and characters' speech- es turned into essays. In Jude, the mastery of form is still apparent, even at this length - 15 actors (12 male, 3 female) play 50 roles, and the scene changes fluidly as Jude, the protagonist, reverses his commitment to one social in- stitution after another. The in- stitutions are compared and combined metaphorically, so that Jude faces the same con- flict, no matter which specific environment he is in. Despite this neat grafting of film plastics to the stage, Jude has problems. A r o m a n t i c mock-epic, like Peer Gynt, the play too often substitutes the ludicrous for the lyric. One be- gins to suspect that the bur- lesque is a device to avoid sen- timentality and melodrama. Al- though the technical complex- ity of the montage is impres- sive, the theme of the play is oddly simplistic - freedom is not continuous escape from the entrapment of institutions, but the acceptance of individual re- sponsibility. Big deal. Sections of the play not protectedby the guise of burlesque are mawkish- ly over-emotional. In spite of these difficulties, Jude is a funny play, a good play, and when it finally com- mits itself to the issue, even a moving play. It may fail to be consistent, but it doesn't fail to be exciting. The production, under the direction of Douglas Sprigg, must be partly responsible for the excitement. The play works because the people in it work. When the play is weak, the ac- tors don't hedge or apologize. They act. When the play has strength and the actors match that strength, the play goes be- yond the written script. In the first ten minutes, Robert McGill (as Jude II) acts like Lil' Abner on the verge of breaking into a chorus, but when he and the play settle down, he has a magical power on the stage. It's more than energy and it's more than the variety of emotions he puts across. He's got the punch. Eric Brown (Jude I) has some of that same stuff, but he uses it differently. As the weak- er half, he whines and wheedles and whimpers, and chickens out at every turn, but he never loses his half of the stage. With McGill's presentation a bit too much Music Man and Brown's a bit too much Christopher Robin, both of them still per- form as well as I have seen in Ann Arbor. Some of the actors in second- ary roles do more than fill in the gaps. Melvyn Buchner as Luigi is a guffaw, and Stuart 3020 Washtenaw ~Ph. ~434-1782 Between Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti WINNER OF 6 ACADEMY AWARDS1 DAVID LEN' FILMLEN DOCTOR Shows Wed., Sat., Sun. 1:00-4:25-8:00 Mon., Tues.-Thurs., Fri. 1 Show only-8:00 I De part ment of Speech inCo-operation with The Department of English Pr e s e n t UNIVERSITY PLAYERS A Dark Comedy of DISSENT -Winner of the 1967 Hopwood Award Wednesday-Saturday March 13-16 Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre Box Office open Daily at 12:30 P.M. Prices: $1.25 and $1.50 All performances at 8:00 P.M. Sharp! ude i Richard Reichman Grant as Sergeant Falls is a belly laugh. John Slade as the draft board clerk has excellent control of timing and charac- ter, and Francine Karasik as the fat woman and as Bernice has a bag full of voices and caricatures. (A one-sentence summary really can't do these people justice.) I'm beginning to feel over- critical. This play and produc- tion were the best I have seen in the speech department this year. The writing, the directing, the acting - all were excep- tional. But although Musket, the student musical, sells out weeks in advance every year, the original play, written, di- rected, and acted by students, is the least successful produc- tion (financially) for the speech department every year. Shows at 1:00-3:30-6:15-900 Feature at 1:15-3:50-6:30-9:15 DIAL 5-6290 Il FO EKURTH - TATE 10ACADEMY AAD AWA RD BIG WEEK OMINATIONS Dial NO 2-6264 UA JIITTY CEO'&9UD 6 PM Ield Over! .;y ' r;,+r:{t r;:j;{rr; ;:.: :"::tt"r rSS$k; rr:2r:frShu kifk' is ';:icw~r 2i%.%sva iii'v::'<'; %?ffiai;;;; t% : ;.d- 13v dc ci5' ., ll :a v: NUMINAIED [on 4 ACA2utm film Y AWA USE, S .' i~tf jfloMadiC ~ illC .F BEST DIRECTOR -Richard Brooks BEST SCREENPLAY -Based on material from another medium '-Richard Brooks BEST INEMATOGRAPHY BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE CO-STARRING MICHAEL J.POLLARD-GENE HACKMAN- ESTELLE PARSONS Wnttenby DAMD NEWMANandROBERT BENTON Mu t0j Chade Srowe Produced by WARREN BEATTY-Drected by ARTHUR PENN TECHNICOL.OR'FROM WARNER BROS.-S&N. iN ARTS See Feature atfs 1:05-3:05-5:05-7:15-9:25 4 the emu players series THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS A revolt of Irish Humor and Hatred TONIGHT at 7 ~and 9P.M. DIAL 8-6416. Continuous SOn Saturday and.Sun;h from 1 P.M. Truman Capote's s: IN COLD BLOOD Written for the Screen and Directed by Richard Brooks Music by QUINCY JONES- A Columbia Pictures Release In Panavis on* Positively no one under 16 admitted unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. SM A march 13-17 all seats $1.50 quirk auditorium reservations: 482-3453 WINNER ACADEMY N M INATIONS! e BEST PICTURE e BEST ACTOR DUSTIN HOFFMAN e BEST ACTRESS ANNE BANCROFT JOEPH E.LEVINE a BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS MIKE NICHOLS KATHERINE ROSS WRENCE TURMAN BEST DIRECTOR °' MIKE NICHOLS t " *BEST SCREEN PLAY f , a BEST fry TCINEMA- TOGRAPHY $fARIGRADUATE ANNE BANCROFT.DUSTIN HOFFMAN" KATHARINE ROSS rI r)R WI I INAHAMA-RI ICK HFNRY PAIIL SIMON I 0 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PROFESSIONAL THEATRE PROGRAM PRESENTS TWO MUSICAL HITS! TICKETS ON SALE NOW! I .:"J::::::, .'.'::J.:'..'.:V:"::.::::::":.":.".": :"::::::::: :J.", ;.; .; ..... .......: ..; ...; .. °:J r: J.:". 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"Exquisite is the only word that surges in my mind as an appropriate description of this exceptional film. Its color is absolutely gorgeous. The use of music and, equally elo- quent, of silences and sounds is beyond verbal description. The performers are perfect-that is the only word."-Bosley Crowther, New York Times."May well be the most beautiful movie ever made."- Newsweek. Speaks lyrically to the 20 th century and beyond."-Time Magazine 3r3 ] ..-*-* I DOROTHY LAMOUR GOWER CHAMPION iei A PA I lo MON A 1 iAv 8 t 4%- r in __ I 1 AAAEJI7'W 7r. R- 7A i