Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
-ri ....A- n-7A
THEMIHIANDALYrL ... -A ._.
i ursucly, rApril L,4 IU I
U
theatre
R.C. Players:
Creativity oi
By JOHN SHOUT generals) seemed to be
I suppose that one prime a fine time cavorting
virtue in a university environ- Some of the trickery, tho
ment is that one can produce teresting, I presume, to
vast varieties of plays on a rela- totally dedicated to mix
tively limited budget and audi- dia, seemed to me a bit
ences can take them or leave tous. We had, for examr
them. We may not have the per- majority of the dialogue
feet evening, but it doesn't cost the mouths of two narrat
much and even a barely coin- a microphone ho0oup, ec
petent job with an intriguing vices and whatnot, the p
play is more worthwhile than a which escapes me. As Ir
lot of other indulgences. I do her, Cocteau wanted a
not mean to suggest that the graph at each side of th
three p 1 a y s which constituted to detach "actor from sp
yesterday evening's entertain- but all the electronics
ment at the Residential College made it difficult to und
were barely competent; at best the words. On the w
we saw some incisive and highly though, one need hardly1
creative personnel at work, and critical to enjoy this sort
even the flaws were never out- The main difficulty
rageous. This may not be the Eiffel Tower is rather th
ideal set of productions for the hard to see why the thin
p er fe ct io n i st, but they are be done at all. My main
worthwhile for anyone inter- throughout was that th
ested in what has been happen- seemed staggeringly o
ing in the theatre for the last dates from 1921). As
forty years. ganda for the avant garc
all very well, but we've d
Jean Cocteau's The Marriage that; who defends realis
In The Eiffel Tower is a sort of more
expressionistic grab - bag, th e A somewhat different
main purpose of which was or- crops up with ionesco
iginally to serve as a vehicle for near-classic, The Bald S
Cocteau's views on the necessity tersecondiofThe threeS
of destroying realismthe need thismseoterpieceohe rra
for play - audience continuity, ity which presents, by
and other causes celebre of the innumerable laugh line
1920's. It is, in fact, preceded total destruction of lai
by a preface (not performed, has b ercome so popula
mercifully) somewhat 1 o n g e r everyoe waonts to pu
than the play itself. I could not and, I think, without
begin to summarize the plot, aware of its great difficu
not that it is of any importance, in several of his later
for the play is sheer trickery of onesco is interested in p
the kind that Cocteau did either inecoase ofeall
veywelorvr banaly ing the collapse of all
very well or very banalysocial behavior by showi
I suppose one m i g h t make inanities of the langua
something of levels of art, real- speak. (For the record,.
ity - within - art - within - came out of an intro I
reality and other Pirandellian manual.) But here hec
matters, but I suspect Cocteau pay much attention to pl
is having fun at the expense of the actors must somehoi
just such themes. This is cal- tain some forty-five mini
culated hokum, good or bad de- word games without bori
pending on how much you like audience; we have nothir
hokum, and the TLC's comic- to interest us. The play
strip production caught the a fantastic variety of pac
right tone. Betsy Smith's stag- keep us going once we
ing made great sport of what- (what the main bit is, and
ever realistic expectations any- afraid Susan Da'vas' di
one might have, and the various
actors (I particularly liked Ian needs considerably mor
Stulberg as the most atypical of She wisely added some
I)
-poetry and prose
Honig's poetry of confrontation
errides flaws
"Cancellation Notice"
In support of 8AM, the Master of Fine
Arts Degree Candidates have decided to
not hold their degree show until the ne-
gotiations are successful and the strike is
over.
having
about.
ugh in-
o those
ed me-
gratui-
,ple, the
out of
,ors via
cho de-
point of
remem-
phono-
e stage
'eaker,"
merely
erstand
h o 1 e,
be very
of fun.
with
at it is
ng need
feeling
he play
ld (it
propa-
,de it is
one all
sm any
problem
's new
oprano,
eplays.
ational-
way of
es, the
*nguage,
ar that
it on-
being
ilty. As
plays,
resent-
logical
ng the
%ge we
it all
English
doesn't
ot, and
w sus-
Ltes of
ng the
ing else
needs
sing to
realize
d I am
rection
e pep.
music
for such scenes as that, in which
Mr. and Mrs. Martin learn to
their amazement that they are
married to each other (or are
they? Decide for yourself.), a
scene that is liable to put every-
one to sleep or (which some
would say is the, same thing)
recall Gilbert and Sullivan, but
the music soon disappeared and
we were left high and dry. There
is enough worthwhile in this
production to merit giving it a
little boost. There is, by the way,
an ending that might come as
quite a surprise to M. lonesco,
which seems to give the play a
brand new social focus; I am at
a loss to explain it.
By the time the third pro-
duction began it was past ten
o'clock and some of the audi-
ence hadheaded out, which was
their great misfortune, since
Brecht's The Exception and the
Rule was far and away the high
point of the evening. Peter
Ferran's production made excel-
lent useof a large number of
the famous Brechtian alienation
techniques: visible lighting in-
struments, placards indicating
the subject of each scene, slide
projections of the sing lyrics (I
wonder if anyone thought of
singing along?) and the like.
Even more deserving of praise,
t h o ug h, is Ferran's original
music which gets right to the
root of what Brecht was after.
Highly derivative of Kurt Weill,
Brecht's occasional collaborator,,
yet highly original, it explores
all sorts of dissonant harmonies
-in a music hall style. The actors
had caught on well to the
Brecht style, and I particularly
liked Wendy Abehd as the un-
fortunate Coolie whose murder
makes up the question which
the play debates. If people are
basically selfish and brutal, it
argues, how can we condemn a
man who acts on that assump-
tion, even though he misinter-
prets a generous act? The stir-
ring conclusion invites us to
change the "rule" and promote
the exceptions, and although it
was somewhat difficult' to ad-
just our sentiments after two
frivolous pieces, the sense of it
all came through with excellent
effect.
By MARY McNICHOLS
In the introductory remarks
to his reading Tuesday at the
UGLI, Edwin Honig dedicated
the reading to the 'Michigan
bards," Donald Hall, Ernest
Hemingway, Dan Hughes a n d
Theodore Redke. The dedication
to poets was fitting, g i v e n
Honig's primary occupation with
the theme of communication.
Honig is a diverse poet. It's
difficult to isolate a specific
theme; he deals with integration,
and it is this ambiguity which
marks his work as good poetry.
Personal psychological feelings,
reactions to war, poverty and
political manipulation are inte-
grated together. As Honig stat-
ed in his introduction to "Spring
Journal," his poetry attempts
to integrate "feelings, ideas in
a form which would make a per-
sonal sense of the world part of
the social world and the times."
The necessity of empathy with
the world is underlined in
"Spring Journal:"
I lie photographing the self,
myself,.all selves .,..
I hurt... because I swallowed
a piece of the world
and now screaming because the
world is swallowing
a piece of me ..,.
Honig speaks of communica-
tion and of committment. But
not naively. His work is per-
meated throughout with under-
standing of the inevitable risks
involved in any communication.
In "A Furnace," he speaks al-
most bitterly of the evolution-.
ary unity of mankind, the cycle
which propogates the race with
the life-death process. W i t h
every birth there must be a
death.
Infants... new presences under
the sun....
Encroaching like flames to
consume us ...
we see ourselves tired, turn-
ing t. . .
Who built the furnace-...
We are the flames ...
Yet t h i s communion-any
communication-is essential. In
the same Kirkegardian leap of
faith which characterizes many
contemporary poets, Honig
speaks of the barriers which
must be broken down, despite
the inevitable risk. From "Spring
Journal":
. . the howling drive to break
down all barriers.. .
Who will survive into
summer ...
Honig admits the ease of
isolation and ignorance, but he
says that such detachment must
not be allowed. He speaks of
"cattle peacefully drinking at
home in Vietnam," in a master-
ful use of irony. The analogy
with Nixon's Silent Majority is
too tempting to ignore.
Honig's work embodies a cer-
tain amount of the enigmatic.
He read his poems as an ideolo-
gical chronology, in which he
hinted at the theme of commun-
ication at first, and later pre-
sented the fully developed
theme. The device may be ex-
plained by an investigation of
-the consistent summer image,
used tosymbolize mature hu-
man communication. The first
poem, "Happening," deals with
what Honig termed a "mystic
experience," in which he finds
it difficult to leave an o 1 d
house, perhaps representative of
negated family love.
Wide blue summer grew
narrow.. .
A Composers Forum concert
will be presented by the Univer-
sit of Michigan composition
Department at 8 p.m. Monday,
April 6 in Recital Hall, North
Campus.
The program of new music by
University composers, will be
conducted by Jack Fortner and
Sydney Hodkinson. The concert
will be open to the public free
of charge.
On the program will be works
by David Maves, Stefan Ehren-
kreutz, Thomas Clark, David
Bates, Burton Beerman, Harold
Reiter, David Foley, and Junko
Sugie.
DIAL 5-6290
NOMINATED FOR 10
ACADEMY AWARDS
"FOUR STARS *** *HIGHEST
RATING ... A GRATIFYING
ACHIEVEMENT."
-Wanda Hale, N.Y. Daily News
"EPIC BATTLE OF THE SEXES."
-Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times
When I turned the house had
opened its face
grey as a man's . . .
The last poem read deals spec-
ifically with the man-woman
love relationship. The title, "All
Summer," represents the ideal
to be attained. The poem relates
risk and pain involved in the
attempt to achieve that ideal.
"She says nothing to him.. .
When will her great green eyes
accept him ...
Flowers ... soon they will wilt,
soon they will die ...,
Edwin Honig's poetry as craft
is excellent. Dealing with t h e
themes of communication and
integration, Honig's work em-
bodies the skill to confront the
reader and force him to feel the
relevancy of these themes.
THOMAS WEBB
RICHARD TURNER
KATHRYN BUNTING
DALEENE MENNING
AL TEOLI
REYNOLD LOWE
JOAQUIN RIVIER
TENG BENG CHEW
SUZANNE WOLFE
KEIICHI HAYANO
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Pos1ersfrom the A uiluflonParis:Mar 1968
The French Student-Worker Revolution
of May 1968, expressed itself most clearly
and vividly through the remarkable series
of wall posters which appeared all over
Paris in defiance of police orders. Com-
TAE missioned by faculty members and strik-
ing workers, they were created at the
Atelier Populaire, set up in the Ecole des
Beaux Arts. Of the 197 posters produced,.
96 appear in large 11" x 16" reproductions
in their original colors.
the accompanying text includes:
" A concise statement of the aims of
+NA the revolution
""A statement of the activist role of the
Atelier Populaire in support of the
revolution through the creation of
wall posters and other art forms
" A chronology of events of the revo-
lution accompanied by small-format
reproductions of all 197 posters issued
PLUS-a section on how to make and
print wall posters by the silk screen
process
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Spend the
summer in stud
on the shores
Lake Michigan
Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin
ly
4
4
I
Summer at Carthage Col-
lege can be a time of relax-
ation as well as enrichment in
a vacation-like atmosphere
on the shores of cool Lake
Michigan.
The, summer session at
Carthage is conducted with all
the advantages of a regular
season program. Classes and
seminars are treated as full-
time courses. Social activities
abound just as during the
school year. We offer fully ac-
credited courses which enable
you to earn extra credit or
simply to study forx
enrichment. Instruc
given by Carthage Col
time faculty and
lecturers.
Kenosha is within ea
ing distance from the
and social centers of su
ropolitan areas as Chic
Milwaukee. Lovely
Geneva is close by, to
For pertinent inform
to courses offered duri
special summer sessio
to Clayton Diskerud,C
Special Schools.
personal
tion is
lege full
visiting
asy driv-
cultural
uch met-
cago and
y Lake
'0
ation as
ing this
n, write
Office of
4
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