THE N1(CHIGAN DA1L.Y Sunday, January 25, 1970 I THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, January 25, 1970 theatre The melancholy parody of R. & G. SATURDAY and SUNDAY MATINEES-ONE SHOW ONLY BEGINS 2:00-OVER 5:00 DIAL 8-6416 SCAM US TODAY AT 1 :20-3.45- 6'.15~-#:45 I By DEBORAH LINDERMAN Surely two of Shakespeare's least memorable characters are Rosencranz and Guildenstern, and it is on this very account that playwright Tom Stoppard has taken to "immortalizing" . them in Rosencranz and Guild- enstern are Dead. The play is' an interpretation of their life and times, which overlap of course with the life and times of Hamlet the Dane. Much of it emerges from the single Joke that these two, who have been appointed to dis- ose of Hamlet, simply cannot understand what all the com- motion in Denmark is about. They devote much time and ef- fort to the task of finding out, but lacking as they are in en- dowment, go to their deaths in befuddlement. The idea of looking at things from the point of view of R, and G. is a comic and ingenious one, and I cannot tell if it is a fault of this production, or of the play, that it wears thin. The two, who keep reminding each other that they "were sent for" (many of Hamlet's lines a r e given, anti-heroically, to them), cannot seem to remember what their mission is supposed to be. They confuse their identities, R. calling G. by his own name and vice-versa. But the two are cast to look immensely different, and if this disparity is meant to underscore the comedy of their being interchangeable, it does not.. Emnbued with a sense oaf duty, they waver between the fear it stirs in them and boredom, and while away thehours byplaying games. Rosencranz, flipping coins, tosses heads over 90 times, which provokes Guildenstern to a dissertation on the laws- of chance and probability. The play is full of Elizabethan conun- drums, paradoxes, and syllog- isms, and R. and G. are greatest at a question and answer game where you lose points if you fail; to answer a uestion with ano- ther question. All this is supposed to be a bathos on the uneasy mood of Hamlet. It is also intended, ap- parently, to create a contem- porary theater atmosphere in the mode of Beckett or ones- co, with the two main charact- ers being compulsively involv- ed in a situation whose mean- ing is never clear to them. On their way to Elsinbre they encounter the troupe of play- ers who will later catch the con- science of the king., They wit- ness or partake in many of the actual scenes from Hamlet - turned around by being lifted in- to this play. Confronted with Hamlet, himself, they try to fig- ure out his mystifying comments about "north-northwest". or "hawk from a handsaw." See- ing that Hamlet plainly will dis- close nothing to them of what is bothering him, they deter- mine to question him directly. Toward this end they put to use their question and answer games. Guildenstern plays Ham- let and Rosencranz the inter- rogator. Rosencranz says: "To sum up, your father - whom you love-dies. You'are his heir, you come back to find that hardly was the corpse cold be- fore his young brother popped onto his throne and into his sheets thereby offending both legal and natural practice. Now, why exactly are you behaving in this extraordinary manner?" They can make little sense of him "either inside or out," as they repeat. And, as you c a n see, the script begins to go along as if it were a critique of Hamlet. Hamlet himself, who is styled to look something like Robert Montgomery and is just about as frantic, at one point enters with a dagger held high, on the words ". . . or not to be" (the first two of the solloque being left off as if he were doing a set piece) and stops there looking deep in thought. But this sort of simple dimension, in which the satire is clear, is missing from Hamlet's other scenes. One is thus seduced into measuring this play's caricature of Hamlet in terms of the real Hamlet and being, of course, dissatisfied. Director Jacqueline Britton is likewise to be faulted for not getting enough satire out of the other people of the court-Clau- dius and Gertrude et. al.-so that too much of the burden of the comedy falls to R. and G. who are too inconsequential to carry it for so long. r Their inconsequence develops more than comic meaning at the end, however, and the nicest aspect of the play is not its comedy but its pathos. Rosen- cranz and Guildenstern, as you know, are sent off to England with Hamlet-who later returns there for his rendenzvous with doom-and they sense in their dim way that before the voyage is over they will certainly die. Hamlet's immortal soliloquies are thus converted 'into their gloomy and fumbling efforts to cope with the meaning of death. When the time comes, they won- der why they, who never really. participated in the whole high- style affair, must die, and their death is a melancholy little epi- sode. 4 -- O 0 . .A "FAN Y HILL """"""" LET'S REACTIVATE GRAD COUNCIL AT THE HOUSE Mobilize for Social and Intellectual Action. MONDAY, JANUARY 26 7 P.M. at THE HOUSE 1429 H ILL STREET I' .. _..O P~ john Church as Rosencrantz ,h ---R-PO- pax eas1!RN ThysEA~hPUW 375 No. MAPLE RO ."7691300 Mnn. -Fy,--7:15-9:15s SAT. & SUN--] :30-3:20- 5:15-7:15-9:15 "THE YEAR'S BEST COMEIt" -SATURDAY REVIEW A FRAV4KOVICHI PRODUCTION FOR COLUMBIA RELEASE ®1m' 1& :A ----r-- - - :CREATIVE ARTS FESTIVAL FEBRUARY U. OF MICH. ; 6-SAM FULLER, Film Director CINEMA GUID, 7 P.M., ARCH. AUD. $1.25 8-LOUIS FALCO and Featured Dancers MODERN DANCE, 8:30 P.M., HILL AUD. $2.75 12 & 13-THE CONCEPT! Off-Broadway Show THURSDAY, 8 P.M., FRI., 7:15 & 10 P.M., TRUEBLOOD, $1.25 15-TOM WOLFE, Author of Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test LECTURE AND WORKSHOP, 3 P.M., TRUEBLOOD $1.25 1 Persons under 18 not admitted From the country that gave you"I,AWOMAN", "INGA" and"I AM CURIOUS" (YULLOW) 'FANNY HILL' Ys a "pomo-classic!*" -ARCHER WINSTON. "# there with sex and love l-N.Y. Post :: '''';> . ,,, ' ' f > t;f. . ,::<} ,:r .rxf !'" '; < .".:. ;: . Y :"' "G >.: . ": f:. ,y{'+I" :f y ?} .} f ' ¢i'j Y i St: "' . - ; ... 19-JOHN BIGGERS, Black Artist SLIDE LECTURE, 8:30 P.M., ANGELL HALL AUD. A $1.00 ;< , ,v w; r 'ti JS ,Y. }Z R ; rY. Fi? ::<;.... xs:' '. s, - . -, 'SE'£ '"'_ . ;,, . .y; '. .i .:: + : . .h ; ; , f i:"r:.' ;} :; 'vi#i,,,":: r:; ;5 { .;.f;::i iy 'fi: i l ¢3r .f y}Y f /}': $ '::±T: !f. !:", $! ? °- {'! : L : :.- f :i4j': , $ F.....; + ,,; . , .. :_{.{ ,. v,'{. :iF:} f s t tr i t5; t., .. %i: :kii i{ rr "}k+'": _.. ... ..1. I FRI., JAN. 30 PROGRAM: Art .songs and arias: French, German,. English, Scottish, -by Martini, Pergolesi, Handel, Arne, Boyce, Haydn, Delius, Grieg, Massenet, Offenbach, Aubert; and arias by Rossini and Donizetti. at 8 :30 JAZZ FESTIVAL Tickets:' $7.00 (out) -$650-$6O- $5.00-$3.50-$2.50 PRESENTATIONS IN RACKHAM AUDITORIUM PROGRAM:W,.8 Quintet for Winds, Op. 43.......................................Neilsen Introduction and Variations for Flute and Piano, Op. 160..............................Schubert Quintet in E-flat for Piano and Winds, K. 452.......... ............. . . . ......Mozart TICKETS AVAILABLE AT $5.00 AND $4.00 ONLY and in HILL AUDITORIUM JOAN SUTH ERLAND Soprano with RICHARD BONYNGE, Pianist UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, BURTON TOWER, ANN ARBOR Office Hours: Mon. through Fri., 9 to 4:30; Sat., 9 to 12 (Tel. 665-3717) (Also at Auditorium box office 1 1/2 hours before performance time) 20-MILES DAVIS and RON CARTER 21-CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, WILLIAM FISCHER and ALVIN BATISTE BOTH CONCERTS at 8:30 P.M., HILL AUD. $3.25 22-JOSEPH STRICK, Director of Ulysses RUSHES FROM "TROPIC OF CANCER," 2 P.M., NAT. SCIENCE AUD. $1.50 U l Subscribe to The Michigan Daily i I ' .8f'S G' Sand NichoAlas Demetroules FannyHill Iw... aidii from Sweden Vistnbuted by CINEMATION INDUSTRIES- COLOR by Deluxe UNION-LEAGUE / IT rIV SUN.-5:30, 7:15, 9:00 MON., TUES.--7:1.5, 9:00 95% of the Reading Population Reads Only 250 to 300 Words Per Minute or Less VISIT EUROPE IN THE 1 KtE DI G NEW YEAR NED'S BOOKSTORE Is Not Difficult to Learn All those who completed courses held this past year at the Bell Tower Hotel achieved speeds of 800 to 2000 w.p.m. with the same or increased comprehension they h a d at their slower YPSILAN TI This new store carries more trade (non-text) books than any other in the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area. Unusual 1970Qecalendars,Athousands of paperbacks, lots of them used, some hardbacks. reading rates. 10% OFF SEE HOW EASILY YOU (SAN: -save hours, use your time more efficiently -learn to read 3 to 10 times faster than you do now -improve your comprehension and increase your enjoyment of reading material a' ' e + S 4 ._ :\ alt t ' a ,F _ = AN OUTSTANDING BARGAIN (210) The UAC TravelCommittee in association with the University of Michigan can offer you the most reliable, most convenient charter flights to Europe on the Michigan campus. We fly International Air Transit Association approved jets-regularly scheduled airlines-TWA, Air Canada, and Sabena Belgian Airways. They can offer you the reliability in backup equipment, communication and punctualty which you should expect. They offer the best first class service (Plus there is a free, open barl). We drop you off in London and return from the continent. This saves you the hassle and expense (approx. $25) of returning to London for your return flight. Since UAC is a non-profit organization, we return to the passengers all of the profits as rebates. Last year one flight received $18,50/passenger as a rebate. ON ALL BOOKS Mon.-Thurs.-9-9; Fri.-9-6; Sa.-12:5:30 IT IS ALL AS GOOD AS IT SOUNDS We think we're interesting- e/ hnn you will at a cost less than HALF that of other commercial reading courses offered in this area! STOP BY OR CALL FOR DATfES AND PRICES El _