Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, October 9, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, October 9, 1969
theatre
cinema -
Oh those crazy summer days
I
Cruel
By BETSY SMITH
The Speech Department's pro-
duction of Jean Genet's T h e
Balcony, playing Wednesday
through Sunday at Trueblood,
succeeds prlimarily through
echnique. The first five scenes
are masterfully accomplished,
he philosophy never weighing
down the performance, the roles
coalescing to each character's
specific presentation, no char-
acter less unbelievable than any
otlwr In his direction, J a m e s
Coaklay manages to bridge the
gap between a character's image
of himself and his place, or
position, in the total action of
the whorehouse.
Yet each character must have
his own identity, and it is in the
second half of the play, when
the spectator is moved from a
sequential experience in e a c h
room of illusion to the central
focus, the office of the madam,
that the production s h o w s
some weaknesses.
In The Balcony, an essential
view fron
tension must be kept between
idea and representation, vision
and nightmare. Occasionally the
balance is tipped in the second
half, and the Chief of- Police,
or the woman-as-image, Chan-
tal, are permitted merely to
rant. Sharon Jansen, portray-
ing Irma, the madame, gives a
particularly strong performance,
gaining in dimension as the
play progresses, becoming, in
her own words, "real."
While the range of attitudes
and movements the women were
permitted to express was limit-
ed to either ferocity or sadistic
joy, they varied these skillfully
enough, and were choreograph-
ed gracefully enough, to stimu-
late the scenes in which they
are only intended to be present.
Cassandra Medley i§ unforget-
table as the Thief; the interplay
between her and the Judge is
rightly a focal point of the play,
and a high point of it. In this
scene, as in all of the first five,
Coakley has paid particular at-
'The
tention to the placement of the
characters, the way they move
toward and away from each
other, at once mirroring and
contradicting their roles and
expectations of each other.
The first half of the play
literally whirls by through
shock, juxtaposition and con-
trast. Each whore is manipu-
lated and manipulates in a
closed world. These tableaux of
religious infamy, parodies of
faith and justice, live like per-
fect drops preserved away from
both the outside world as it ex-
its (perhaps in a stage of seige,
perhaps not )and the client's
(or "visitor's") own life when
they escape from the whore-
house by way of the alley.
The second half of the play
flutters and drags, in touch
with the real world, by way of
film clips and breathless reports.
This part of the play is cut
somewhat in Coakley's produc-
tion, but manages at its best
Jalcony'
moments to give a total view of
th environment, as when the set
opens up and one character
completely subjugateshimself to
another (the second memorable
performance, by Evan Jeffries).
The play is well-developed in
terms of characters,and finds
its best voice when the setting
and the character magnify one
another. When issues are merely
magnified and do the film
clips prejudice the issues?) they
tend to fall flat.
When the Genet play succeeds,
it succeeds, as does Artaud's
theatre of cruelty, at the ex-
pense of the audience. At the
end of the Speech Department's
production, the audience has
indeed been through the shift-
ing sands of illusion. Whether or
not they have been through a
war-an ugly, shocking experi-
ence-remains unclear. Perhaps
what they are seeing is an un-
easy peace. If so, then the real
confrontations-and a real thea-
tre of cruelty-are for another
day.
ETI N
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DAILY OFFICIAL BULL
The Daily Official Bulletin is an
official publication of the Univer-j
sity of Michigan. Notices should be
sent in TYPEWRITTEN f o r m toI
Room 35?8 L.S.A. Bldg., before
2 p.m. of the preceding publi-
cation and by 2 p.h. Friday for
Sat urday and Sunday. Items appear
once. Student organization notices
are not acelpted for publication.
For more information, phone 764-
91).
NOT-ICES
Bach Club Meeting, Thurs., Oct. 9, 8
p.m.; 1236 Washtenaw (at South Forestj
bear S. U.). Speaker: Harold Haugh.
"Bach as Preacher and Word Painter."
Refreshments and FUN. Everyone wel-
'Ome (no musical knowledge needed
For further info. call 665-6806. 663-2827,
or 761-7356.
Luncheon Meeting o: the American
Culture Students Organization Oct. 8,
12:00 Noon at. Guild House, 802 Mon-
roe. Open to everyone. Speaker from
New Mobilization to speak on "Strike'
Oct. 15: Where it is Going, and What
We Can Do.''
Luncheon Meeting of the American!
Culture Student Organization at the
Guild Hue, 802 Monroe, at 12:00
noon, Oct. 8. Representative from New
Mobilization to speak on "Strike Oct.-
15: Where It, Is Going, and What We
Can Do".
IM College Republicans General
Meeting, Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Ughi-
Multi-purpose room.
American Institute of Industrial En-
gineers (AIlE) Noon luncheon, Oct. 8,
1969 at 12:00 noon. 325 West Engineer-
Ing, Speaker: Matthew McCauley-Asst.-
Dean and Admissions Office of the
University of Michigan Law School.
* * V
Graduate Outing Club meets Sunday
at 1:30 p.m. at the Huron St. entrance
to the Iackha n . . bfr hiking, canoe-
ing, volley ball, occasional horseback
riding Immediately followed by t h e
Graduate Eating Club.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9
I- -
Day Calendar
Piano Departnlent Student Recital:
School of Music Recital Hall, 12:30
p m.
Computer, Information and Control
Engineering Seminar: Lenard Silver-
man, Professor of Electrical Engineer-
ing, Univ ersity of Souther California at
.0.s Angeles, "Invertibility and De-
coupling of Linear Systems": 1504'
East Engineering, 4:00 p.m.
Physical Chemistry Seminar: M r. Kent
Lanini, Dept. of Chem., "Bands, Bonds,
& Binding Energies - a Survey of
Photoelectron Spectroscopy"; 12001
(JChem-. 4:00 p.m.
Travel Film Series: "Eyeing the Brit-
ish Isles": Auditorium A, Angell Hall,
7:30 p.m.
University Players (Department of
Speechl: The Balcony by Jean Genet:
Trueblood Theatre. 8:00 p.m.
General Notices
The Political Science Departmental
meeting scheduled for Friday, Oct. 10
at 8:00 in the Rackham Amphi Theatre
has been rescheduled for Tues., Oct. 21
at 8:00 p.m., in the West Conference
room in th Rackham.
Pacement Service
GENERAL DIVISION
3200 S.A.B.
Announcements of Special Programs
of study, travel and other opportunities
for new graduates, inquire at Career
Planning, 764-6388, for complete In-
formation:
Mademoiselle's College Competitions,
College Board, Photography, and Fic-
tion & Poetry. Deadline for receipt of
first assignment stage is Nov. 1.
tAdvertising Women of New York Inc.
offers communications career confer-
ence, in conjunction with Amer. Assoc.
of Adv. Agencies, and Amer Adv. Fed-
eration. Saturday, Nov 1, Hotel Com-
modore, Lexington Ave, 42nd Street,
NY, NY. 10017. Registration fee of
$5.50 for students, who must arrange
for their own transportation and hous-
ing. Applications at aCreer Planning.
Andover Teaching Fellowship Pro-I
gram, Phillips Academy, Adnover, Mass,
only men are eligible, training for ca-j
reer in secondar yteaching, married Union Carbide Corp, Oak Ridge,
and unmarried fellows receive stipend Tenn, Jrs, Srs, and grad students in
and living allowances and quarters. biol, chem, math, engrg, phys, and
Citizens Exchange Corps offers schol- stat for summer programs. Apply be-
arships for study-exchanges with USSR.1
Trip Christmas 69 and other trips dur-
ing year and summer 70.
SUMMER PLACEMENT
SERVICE
212 SAB, Lower Level
Army and Air Force Exchange Serv-
ice offers summer intern program in
Dallas and elsewhere to soph, jrs, for
mgmt dev courses, on-the-job trug,
good salary.
The American Association of
University Women is sponsoring a
book sale at the First Congrega-
tional Church, on the corner of
State and William.
The books, priced from 10 cents
to $1, include textbooks, novels,
poetry, drama, biographies, for-
eign language books, and paper-
backs. There are also records,
magazines, and prints as well as
reference pieces and dictionaries
at higher prices.
Proceeds from the sale go to fi-
nance graduate fellowships for
women, both on the international
and local level. The sale lasts from
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and Friday
from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Litter doesn't throw
itself away; litter
doesn't just happen.
People cause it-and
only people can prevent ,
it. "People" means you.
Keep America Beautiful.
',odvertising contributed
for the public good
1 NATIONAL'GENERAL CORPRAIO
FOX EASTERN TEATRES~
FOX VIlLaGE
375 No. MAPLE PD. -769.1300
MON.-FRI.-7 :20-9:30
SAT. and SUN.--1 :00-3:05-
5:10-7:20-9:30
fore Jan 1.
The Michigan Daily, edited and man-
aged by students. t the University of
Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second
Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich-
Igan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues-
day through Sunday morning Univer-
sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by
carrier. $10 by mail.
Summer Session published Tuesday
through Saturday morning. Subscrip-
tion rates: $3.00 by carrier, $3.00 by
mall.
By NEAL GABLER
As the celluoid world of tin-
sel fades with the advent of the
naturalistic film, so too dies
the Hollywood studios' stereo-
types of adolescents. Usually the
filmic teenager fell into one of
two types: One was the Walt
Disney sort, kids who said, "Gee
willikers," the boys with cow-
licks and the girls all sugar and
spice. The other was the Ameri-
can International sort. These
were beach people whose argot
was, "Dig it, man," and whose
idea of making out was twisting
on the sand.
Now we have Frank Perry's
Last Summer. And for a 11 its
faults, it just may be the first
American commercial film
whe-e the characters bear some
resemblence to r e a live teen-
agers. Eleanor Perry has written
good dialogue, sprinkled w i t h
erzatz psychology, but accurate-
ly showing post-pubescent mind
and emotion.
Unlike the usual enunuchs and
virgins Hollywood usually makes
kids out to be, the Perry's ado-
lescents are real-they are both
aware of and aroused by sex.
The whole film revolves around
the confusion, excitement and
brutality in the realization that
there are more things to do with
girls than bob for apples or go
swimming.
And it is these characters -
as the Perry's create them and
as they are performed - that
are the movie. Barbara Hershey
is beautiful and taunting as
Sandy, a girl whose hormones
have worked overtime. Just be-
yond her grasp is Peter, defly
portrayed by Richard Thomas,
"It's the best
picture about
young people
Ihave seen!"
_J,.k.. AC V
+ 1
Eanuel LWolf presens
AN ALLIED ARTISTS FILM
A Frank PerryAlsd Production
ws e
Tonight
at
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DIAL 8-6416
an innocent torn between lust
for Sandy and affection for the
plain Rhoda. Bruce Davison as
Dan is so crude, insensitive and
superficial he lo o k s as if he
walked right out of a fraternity
house. %
And Catherine Burns as Rho-
da -- smart, sinpere, romantic,
a n d (tragically) a vulnerable
new force to the .tight friend-
ship of the other three - gives,
what I think, is the best per-
formance in the film and one of
the best this year. She has an
internal beauty, and Miss Burns
handles perfectly Rhoda's nai-
vite of the sexual games and the
depth of her love for Peter. In-
cidently, Miss Burns will be ap-
pearing on campus this Novem-
ber in the APA's The Conjueror.
Yet the Perry's weakens the
film by placing these characters
in a heavy plot. Last Summer
could have been a great picture
of youth rather than a g o o d
suspense story about young peo-
ple. But instead, the highly
structured plot overwhelms our
main concern - the four lonely,
searching teenagers.
The first part of the movie
succeeds in its fromlessness.
Perry allows the unque chemis-
try and attraction of the three
characters, Peter, Dan and San-
dy to slowly unfold irrespective
of a conscious plot. F r o m a
chance meeting while Sandy
tended to a wounded gull, their
intimacy grows - catalyzed by
Sandy's sexuality. Their collec-
tive awareness of this sexual ele-
ment is revealed in a direct and
effective manner in two espec-
ially good scenes - one where
Peter confesses a preoccupation
with Sandy's breasts, and an-
other where Sandy is simultan-
eously petted by the boys dur-
ing a sensual Italian movie.
B u t this effective formless-
ness is destroyed when the Per-
ry's introduce Rhoda. And from
this point on, we too are con-
scious of "what's going to hap-
pen next."
Intruding into the norms of
this cozy triangle Rhoda's pres-
ence threatens to remove Peter.
The other two begin to stop this
threat, and when Sandy finally
confronts Rhoda, the conclusion
is brutal and anesthetizing.
For all the horrow, Frank Per-
ry directs in a simple, sometimes
lyrical, style. Perry, best known
for David and Lisa but also the
director of the Truman Capote-
Xerox specials, uses restraint.
He has sensed that there is a
chemistry among his actors, so
he plants the camera and lets
them perform.
The combination of Perry's di-
rection, the dialogue a n d the
performances, make Last Sum-
mer a significant film.
,
"WORTH CEL EBRATING"'
"Mounts to a Marvelous Climax"
LIVIDg
in lin1er
w
is nof lr
KEEP
AMERICA
BEAUTIFUL
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SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 12
fmneflC~m citmieM
ALICE'S
RESTAURANT"
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
UGET SU
dir KeniMiMzoquck
( 1953)
-Apotten in an age of
violence bewitched by
Spirits.
"YOU BETCHA"
Directed by
John Houseman
plus "PLAY" by
Samuel Beckett
i
/' ;
!
r
mo27kiwtd
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with
Patrick Hines
Christopher Walken
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BLUES! BLUES! BLUES! BLUES!
ANN ARBOR EXPO '69
FALL BLUES SHOW
LUTHER ALLISON and BLUE NEBULAE REVUE
"My Luck Don't
Ever Change"
BIG MOYO
Slowdown Baby
PLUS
- BILLY LEWIS
"Hard, Hard Time"
Billy Lewis
SAT., OCT. 18-9 P.M. to 1 A.M.
ARMORY-223 E. Ann St.
TICKETS ON SALE AT DISCOUNT RECORDS-$3.00
Ann Arbor-Gateway to the World of Blues
7 and 9
662-8871
Architecture
Auditorium
.i
I
N
0
I
OCTOBER 24-26
'a
P;
:
'
k
TAMMY GRIMES
BRIAN BEDFORD
writers, poets,'
artists,
photographers
NOEL COWARD'S
I a I.