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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, September 18, 1968
. . ,, , ,
theatre
I a HIt"iow
SHOWS AT 1:30 & 7:30
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT
F I
romps with sophisticated
pM
Misa nth rope
BOX OFFICE AT SHOW TIME
rnnmwsrcecn splendor...Th nmos magnificenf picture ever!
By M.J.B. ALLEN
Youthful Savonarolas can be'
very funny, especially when
they're in love with sweet, co-
quettish blondes; and one good
way of taking Moliere's many-
sided Misanthrope, is to make
Alcestg's love funny to everyone
but himself.
The APA production' last,
night did just this: it succeed-
ed in making a play which is
one of the most sophisticated
and arch 'of all comedies into
a romp as well
Directed by Stephen Porter
with an excellent sense of pace.
and with a wonderful splash of
Louis XIV costuming, this pro-
duction is pre-eminently a tri-
umph for its translator, Rich-
ard Wilbur. He has given the
actors a gorgeous -sequence of
heroic couplets which allows
them time and again to point.
the rhyme and to pause in 'mid-
line with telling effect. What's
more, he has reproduced much
of Moliere's own stylistic varia-
tion by giving Alceste some,
superbly blunt, colloquial lines,
and by offsetting these withthe,
mannered] hyperboles of Acaste
and Clitandre.
Alceste (Richard Easton) is
delightfully rendered as a young
man who's "jealous of all the
world" and "unfashionably sin-
cere." However, this is not the
serious man who is cruelly
mocked by rogues, the Alceste,
whom Rousseau and the psycho-
logists after him saw in almost
a tragic light as a virtuous mis-
anthrope. On the contrary,
Richard Easton plays him as a
boyish boisterous lover, a lover
w h o s e b l u n t awkwardness,
whose adolescent veering to ex-
tremes gives a lightheartedness
to the comedy, and his Interpre-
tation is convincing. The end-
ing leaves us, as perhaps Moliere
meant it to leave us, not with
a sense of finality, but with the
sense that this is all going to
start over again the next morn-
ing.
In fact, one of Easton's most
marvellous moments is h i s
"meanwhile" as Philinte (Syd-
ney Walker) and Eliante (Pa-
tricia Conolly) declare their love
for each other. Celimene (Chris-
tine Pickles) was a fine foil' to
Alceste, cool when he was en-
raged, on fire when he had cool-
ed, and she was equally fine
when she sat between Acaste
(Brian Bedfords and Clitandre
(Joseph, Bird) while they nib-
bled her hands with obsequious
delight.
These two, and particularly
- Acaste, provided the polar con-
trast to Alceste and it was their
-finely phrased flattery and their
voluptuous complacency which
delighted me again and again:'
I remember Acaste's "and as for
courage, I seem to have it," and
his oily, mincing, supercilious
all-meaningful smile. Oronte
(Keene Curtis) also provided
some amusing moments and. his
malleable face conveyed almost
as much as Acaste's smile.
Indeed, all the males in this
play are strong and deftly va-
ried in their movements, in their
diction and in their timing. The
only weak spot, last night was
the scene with - Arsifloe 'and
Celimene, where Arsinoe just
didn't seem to respond convinc-
ingly to the insults Celimene
was so delicately offering her.
This scene could be one 'of the
most intriguing, one of the most
acid, one of the most amusing
scenes in the ,whole play; as it
was, it was rather flat.
The Misanthrope is built on
paradoxes. Fob' its first aud-
iences it was alive with possible
refeences to people they knew,
and yet at. the same time it was
impossible to pin down with any
certainty. In some ways Alceste
is a young Cato railing at the
decadence of the times; in other
ways he is an immature hothead
who has yet to learn the social
graces. Sometimes his misan-
thropy strikes p h i o s o p h i c
chords; sometimes it seems
sheer pigheadedness. Sometimes
we want Alceste to be more of
his time and place, and at others
we are glad that he stumps out
of both of them ostensibly to
find his rural wilderness far
from the madding crowd.
But this production softens
these two-way tensions of the
play by emphasizing Alceste's
love for Celimene and by delib-
erately pointing up her love for
him. By doing this it creates an
evening which is, above all, live-
ly. The APA is to be con-
gratulated.
--
DIAL 8-6416
"A SIZZLER
FROM FRANCE-
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WILL BE THE
MOST TALKED-ABOUT
MOVIE AROUND!
--WINS
}r. l1yV1 lull hi '
LE SL I lO1ARC
Friday and Saturday $ 5
Eves. and All Day
Sunday-$ 5
-W inner of Ten
Academy Awardsk
lO$her $ 00
Performances
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TONIGHT and EVERY WEDNESDAY at
A HOOT
with Pamela Miles, Bob Franke, Jack Quine,
Christopher and Sara, Paul Siglin, Paul Johns,
and many others.
FRIDAY
1421 Hill St.
8;30 P.M.
Curtis, Walker, Easton (L-R): A lively Misanthrope'
records
WIy the Beatles really stink
The following article was sub-S
initted by: aDaily reader who
differ with not only the view pre
sente4 b~y Ralph~ J. Gleason i his
analysis of the Beatles" "Revolu-
tion" (published here last week),
but-also with some prevalent at-
itudes about the group itself-
Ed.
11y .J ROMAN BABIAK I
The Beatles are a group of sec-
ond rate musicians. They need
the help of large orchestras and
70-two-track overdubs to make a
song sound good.
The Beatles need George Mar-
tin to rework their crude ideas
into the refined middle-class
taste-teripo that is easily playable
on rock, country and western, easy
listening pop and light classical.
music stations. In other words
their music is the lowest common
denominator. hardly an indication
of great creativity.
The Beatles 'produce, not create,
a semi-nothingness that everyone
from Paul Bunyan to Tiny Tim
find reminiscent of Mother and
childhood diapers.
The Beatles are the radicals'
and teeny-boppers' tie to home
They are the non-system group
who made it in the system. (But
were they ever non-system?),
Could they- be the personalization
of our $uppressed desires to get
a job like dad's? The Mothers, at
least, had the courage to say
"We're in for the money."
The Beatles put us on with ex-
cellent publicity, great manage-
ment (was Brian Epstein's con-
science bothering him and getting
in someone's way?). and apparent
innocence. Someone's pulling a
,Techniques of Persuasion" act,
and the world better wake up.:
The flick, Privilege, showed how
an establishment could control'
a public and pressure it into con-
forming by using a pop hero and
the mass media. The parallel with
the Beatles' career is frightening.
Though I find it difficult'to think
in terms of great conspiracies,
something similar and deplorable
is happening.
Review the cheering crowds, the
blind worship,the seeming rebel-
lion followed by a repentant trip
to India, the dispensing ,of free
merchandise like pop corn to the
pigeons of St. Mark's square, fol-
lowed by the release of songs like
"Hey Jude" and "Revolution"
and one begins to wonder if LBJ
isn't the real owner of Apple.\Next
we will hear a direct statement
from the Beatle godhead, ordering
all American males between 18 and
22 to go directly to Vietnam, do
not pass go or collect a career
card.
Why is it so hard to let a hero
fall? Why must a secondary mouth
like Ralph' J. Gleason, the super
critic who can't tell black from,
white, humbly list the Beatles'
virtues and adnonish us for ques- I
tioning their wisdom? Is his repu-
' tation and job at stake?
The- Beatles wish tar mesmerize
us into a world ofidiotic irre-.
levance-which has always been
their forte. A world where every-,
one walks about repeating "love"
and "it will be all right" for seven
minutes to lull themselves into a
false sense of 'security and well
being..
"It will be all right" as long as,
we have nuclear weapons and so-
cities to prevent the proliferation
of -nuclear weapons; universities
and' free-universities; university
built machihes who will go to
work for Apple; free-university'
built machines who will spend the
rest of their lives wishing they
could work for Apple. Regular
season shows like Jackie Gleason
and summer replacement shows
like "The Prisoner." Everyone will
work to - improve the economy,
spread deep philosophical thought
like "love . . . it will be all right."
and help lull each other to sleep
in the semi-nothingness of their
childhood diapers.
Why is it so hard to let such
heroes die?
BOB FRANCE and GENE BANKIN '
singing blues, ballads, contemporary and original folk music-playing
6 and 12 string guitar, banjo and harmonica.
SATURDAY
CUSTER'S LAST BAND (Jug)
'(A massacre in progress) returns by overwhelming popular demand
Want t see the Sandpipers.
They're coming with
ThebBobHope, Show
SAT.UR DAY, SEPTEMBER 21
8:30 P.M.
University Events Building
Ticket price $3.00
Ticket Sales in the lobby of the S.A.B.
and at the door on performance night
Presented by Michigan Fraternities
and Sororities
vi FI
v
GUILDHOUSE FALL RETREAT'
SATURDAY, SEPT. 21
At Saline Val ley Fa rms
"The Challenge of America." Speakers and Resource
People from the Economics Dept.-Examination of the
influence which America exerts, particularly eco-
nomic, in Europe and also in the developing nations.
We shall attempt a critical examination.
Meet at Guild House, 802 Monroe at 8:30 P.M. for
travel to location, Good food-Recreation. Cost $2.25
ENDS TONITE
Lose Something?.
Find
it with a
Classified
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CINEMA II
"SHOP ON
MAIN STREET"
Dir. KADAR
Academy Award as Best
Foreign Film
OCT. 4-5, FRI.-SAT.
Aud. A-75c-ID required
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Present
SIXTH ANN ARBOR FILM
FESTIVAL-WINNERS
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OFFON (Scott Bartlett)
FILMPIECE FOR SUNSHINE
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SOUL FREEZE (Bob Cowar)
LIBERATION OF THE
MANNIQUE MECHANIQUE
(Steve Arnold & Michael Wiese)
RELATIVELY (Ed Emschwiller)
Tues. & Wed. ARCHITECTURE
7-100 & 9:15
AUDITORIUM
662-8871
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Suede is the story here-combining with wool in John Meyer
clothes with a proper country air. Their thoroughbred tailoring
makes any rural scene. Pierced suede edges the brushed shetland
cardigan $21. And suede binds the pockets of the Port Ellen plaid
skirt with front pleats $19. Button-down oxford shirt $6.50.
All in brilliant colors. At discerning stores.
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