PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FRIDAY, NQVENTBER 3, 1967
PAGE TWO TUE MICHIGAN DAILY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3,1967
theatre
'U' Players Present 'Musgrave'
cinema
Leroi Jones' "The Dutchman:'
Black Power Rides the IT
'World Communists Gather
For Bolshevik Anniversary
A
*1
By ANDREW LUGG
John Arden is one of the most
important contemporary English
playwrights. His plays are com-
plex. The have guts. They deal
with both a formal and an ide-
ological radicalism, and it's Ardens
subtle blending of these compo-
nents that makes his plays so dif-
ficult to characterize by some
cheap universal.
England, of course, is a place
where "class" has some meaning.
I mean there is a working class, a
middle class and an aristocracy.
In America, by comparison, there
is the poor, the middle class and
the rich.'
The difference between these
two sets of categories is that in
England they are cultural whereas
in Americal they are material. Ar-
den comes from a middle class
background and writes about the
working class.
However, it is not the working
class, per se, that Arden studies.
He uses their culture to set and
develop their ideas.
The theme of the play is de-
veloped within an historical con-
text-that of Victorian colonialism
-and the action is set in a north
country mining town. An initial
dialectic is between the political
reality-the macroscopic--and the
individual lives of the miners and
that there are no clear choices but
that one has to act publically, one
the soldiers who come to "recruit"
for the queen-the microscopic.
First, let us not ignore Arden's
politics. He consistently deals with
the problems of the left. He sees
has to take a stand.
Black Jack Musgrave (Douglas
Sprigg) is a man obsessed with an
idea: "Colonialism is a bad thing."
More specifically, he sees, nothing
unjust about killing twenty-five
men in a reprisal against the kill-
ing by "the rebels" of five of his
own men.
He thinks that like cures like-
that by killing a few, the millen-
nium will arrive-that by having
a parade, "the end of the world"
will result. On a deeper level,
"Musgrave" concerns the way or
process of being against colonial-
ism.
In the introduction to the Grove
Press edition of "Musgrave," Ar-
den says that the play is not ni-
hilistic, not symbolist, nor does it
advocate bloody revolution. The
simplistic overview of the present
production is that because of these
bounds set by Arden, the play must
be against bloody revolution.
Not at all-the play is a clear
view of the conflict in political
man (or rather, the political left)
between its natural pacifist ten-
dencies and its appreciation of
political reality in the ends-and-
means sense.
This, then, is the problem with
the University Players production:
the play has been castrated. As an
example, at the end of scene II,
act I, the preacher takes a sip of
ale when no one is looking, after
profusely refusing earlier. Always
good for a laugh, but it gave the
play an element that Arden was at
pains to eliminate.
It was the wrong sort of vaude-
ville. And "Rule Britannia" in the
music is really to much.
What's good in this production?
The stage falling away toward the
audience (no footlight) gives the
actors a real intimacy with the
audience. In the play there is
much eye-to-eye actor-audience
confrontation and director, James
Coakley brings his actors front
stage whenever possible.
Peter Ferren as John Bludgeon
uses this direction to obtain mag-
nificent results. His movement and
acent is sharp and pointed-he es-
tablishes a ferocious intimacy with
the audience.
Eric Brown (Sparkey), although
his accent slips at times, and Rob-
ert Elliott (The Slow Collier) both
bring the action to life whenever
they are on stage.
Sprigg has a much more difficult
time. To retain the accent through
many different situations is dif-
ficult and Musgrave is an extreme-
ly complex character. Toward the
end, when the action speeds up,
Spriggs almost totally drops his
accent and his performance be-
comes much richer.
Often, especially in the slower
passages, the north country accent
seems an encumbrance and the
rate at which the play progresses
is far too slow. It was even dif-
ficult for me, an Englishman, to
understand some of the speeches.
But the standard of acting is
consistent-there are no apparent
"fill-ins." The company works as
a group. Yes, the whole cast de-
serves mention.
By RICHARD AYERS
In writing on a film which is
adapted from a play, a reviewer
is faced with the problem of what
focus to adopt. Either he can deal
with the theatrical and thematic
aspects of the piece which nor-
mally concern a drama critic, or
he can discuss whether it suc-
ceeds as cinema.
In the case of "The Dutchman,"
I have the advantage of a critical
precedent, "The Brig." This was
an off-Broadway play which was
filmed in one night, after the
police had closed down the the-
atre in which it was being per-'
formed. The resulting film has
since received such wide acclaim
in the realm of independent
cinema that a whole critical ap-
paratus has grown up around its
unique approach to cinema.
"The Brig" succeeds in captur-
ing the claustrophobia intended
in the one-set play, and adds the
dimension of a subjective camera
as an involved witness to the hor-
rors of a Marine prison.
"The Dutchman," similarly, is
adapted from a play with a sin-
gle set, a subway car. Clearly the
film has the advantage of put-
ting the characters in an actual
subway car and including the mo-
tion and noise of the New York
subway. The director, Anthony
Harvey, has brilliantly adapted
the emotional affect which Leroi
Jones intended in the play. has more violence and hatred in
Jones, the tortured and violent him than she can understand: "I
black playwright who was re- wear this middle-class suit just
cently arrested in the Newark
riots, has carefully structured his
piece to make his audience, both
black and white, come to reali-
zations about its racial attitudes
which it is quite hesitant to ad-
mit. The leftist white chick and
the middle-class black man find,
in the end, that the only relation-
ship which can develop between
them is one of violence.
In the beginning the man, Al
Freeman, tries to maintain a fa-
cade of the conventional no-
touch-no-threat idiom of conver-
sation. The w o m a n, Shirley
Knight, wants to seduce him on
the one hand (to which he, still
in the middle-class bag, is happy
to acquiesce) and challenge him
out of his position of an "escaped
nigger" on the other.
It becomes clear, however, that
even he, in spite of his facade,
Phorie 434-0190
Entwm" On CARPENTER ROAD
OPEN 6:30 P.M.
FREE HEATERS
MGM presents
G lenn Wh A g e Do s
in Panavison' and Metrocolor
to keep from strangling you." The
conversation, which began in a
teasing flirtation, ends in an
honest but exasperating murder.
If your conservative, liberal, or
radical bag is embarrassedbythe
honest violence of the dialogue,
Harvey adds to this a face, fifteen
feet tall on the screen, which spits
the words into your face.
The last five minutes, with the
murder which becomes almost a
ritual of orgasm, with the fan-
tastic music, with the shots of
the barren subway, is one of the
best sequences in film.
SIDNEY
POITIER
"TO SIR,WITH
LOVE"
TECHNICOLOR-
"SUPERB!
WARM,
MOVING
SIDNEY
POITIER
"TO SIR, WITH
LOVE"
TECHNICOLOR'
AND
HUMOROUS
--N.Y. News
SIDNEY
POITIER
"TO S1 9 I
LOVE"
TECHNICOLOR*
NOW AT THE
MICH IGAN
ST HEA TRE
MOSCOW (AP) - Six days of
celebrations began in redfestoon-
ed Moscow yesteday with top
Communists from around the
world gathered to honor the Bol-
shevik Revolution and discuss
current problems, including Red
China. China boycotted the festiv-
ities.
The key man in the celebra-
tions, Communist party General
Secretary Leonid J. Brezhev,
opened the program by unveil-
ing a 12-foot Kremlin statue of
Lenin.
Today Brezhnev will deliver
the main speech of the six-day
celebration. The ceremonies will
end with the traditional Red
Square parade Tuesday.
Four new types of military
rockets are expected to be shown
in the parade - following the
horse cavalry that recall the old
Red army which consolidated
Lenin's revolution.
Premier Alexei N. Kosygin may
speak Sunday when attention
shifts briefly to Leningrad, the
city where the revolution occur-
red in 1917.
GREAT HITS ENCORE!
"'GEORGY GIRL' IS SUPERIORI WONDERFUL
PELL-MELL ENJOYMENT, IMMENSELY ORIGINAL!"
. BosieCrowthe. N.Y. Tim
I
s eorgy. 1 nis is ~uorgy sU Uis is 1 ueorgy9
roommate. roommates roommete.
COLUMBIA PICTURES nws
JAMES MASON- ALAN BATES - LYNN REDGRAVE
* AND *
4
U
Ia cros ampus +I
h's mn snaaa .Ize. tza, ts -_ _ f r
NOxATIO ENEFEATURE TIMES
NOW FXESELYTETEMEN 12- Monday-Friday
LflU E 6:00, 7:45, 9:20
SHOWING i E.VILL Sat-Sun.: 1:30-
375 No. MAPLE RD.-769.1300 3:10-4:55-6:40-
8:20-10:00
MGMpresents-
A Judd Beard-
Irwin Winkler Production
I
A reception for Congressmen
Robert Taft and Marvin Esch will
be held at Assembly Hall in the
Michigan Union from 9:30 to 11:00
this morning. The reception is be-
ing sponsored by the College Re-
publican Club and is .open to the
public free of charge. Coffee and
donuts will be served.,
* * *
A "new" phenomenon is about
to be visited upon the campus, at
Canterbury House, this weekend.
Appearing there will be Skip
J a m e s, reknowned Mississippi
Delta blues singer.
Now 65 years old; James first
recorded for Paramount Records
in 1930. Thirty-four years later,
in June, 1964, he was "re-discov-
ered" and appeared at the New-
port Folk Festival, where he cap-
tured the audience with his high,
plaintive singing style and fine
guitar work. James has been per-
forming constantly since then
and has just returned from tour-
ing Europe with the "American
Folk Blues Tour, 1967."
* * *
James F. Brinkerhoff, who has
been director of plant extension
at ,the University since 1962, has
been named director of business
operations. He will remain re-
sponsible for plant extension and
now also will be in charge of
plant operation and maintenance,
Willow Run Airport, purchasing
and stores, and personnel policies
and operations. He will also be
chairman of the University com-
mittee for union relations.
PLUS ..
''
F E
LEE
MARVIN
BLAN K"
cOstarring GIE DICKINSON Au,1
in Panavision*and MetrocoCor QMGM
WITH DAVID NIVEN
r m rwo '
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..\ .. T3:5... ..v:"rJ$ ....:{,;. e} .:. . ..} ... *... . .. yy . .. . ..{ :"".::. .
HELD
OVER:
2nd WEEK
NOW
SHOWING
Everything you
know about
people will be
shattered!
"A striking
experience and
one with an
impact that
is all but un-
forgettable!"
--Hollis Alpert
SATURDAY
REVIEW
"Like a volt
jolt from
the third rail"
-TIME
MAGAZINE
411 1%4f~
....~......... *,..:..... ~ 149. .
When a girl
like Lula gets
with a man
like Clay-,
she can love
him... or
kill him--or
maybe both!
"Told with
brutal
eloquence!
Shirley Knight
is close to
perfect-
startling!
Al Freeman, Jr.
is excellent."
-Brendan Gill
THE NEW
YORKER
"There had
never been
anything like
this on the
American
screen."
-William Wolf
CUE
MAGAZINE
4
AYVERY WELL BETH
cANT M ©VER t H OA W BEER
PuT ONTHE STAGA OE
PUT O IL E q1jHS
pARD WINNING"DUTCHMA
SHOW TIMES:
She Walter Reade organlization Present~s E
Pr FAe EIER SS " .Assoc producer NY SILVERMAN
4pruerOGNE R~gO Director ANTONy tARVEY
.,Ectby30NBARY b.PRSNTl'"PNt 8Y ,OV{IE
A ROBERT WISE PRODUMIONA
STEVE MCQUEEN k
nunnnn aT~ruunnnniiniinuniinn nnrama. i ninr nrnnru
Monday-Thursday 7 & 9
P.M.
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