Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Friday, October 10, 1969

Pci go Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, October 10, 1969


theatre-
Aswering the questions
)furns, Christ and death
in Ghelderode and Beckett

A

few notes on

rock &

lyrics & ears

By LAURIE HARRIS
The main reaction of those
who have seen the APA produc-
tion of Miehel de Ghelderode's
Chronicles of Dell and Samuel
Beckett's Play is one of puzle-
ment. Along with the program
notes and torn tickets, the pa-
trons carry with them a per-
plexing sense of "non-under-
standing" comprehension.
In Pla, three ghostly, almost
masklike, heads protrude from
their respective cocoon like bur-
ial urns. Chronicles is set in an
eerie 11th century palace filled
with distorted figures-a hunch-
back Vicar, an underweight
Pleban, and other' disfigured hu-
man beings. This tableau is
heightened by common-place
language which takes on an as-
pect of the absurd.
In light of these confusing
happenings on stage, members
of the cast yesterday met with
students who attempted a spe-
cial matinee sponsored by UAC
and APA to help clarify the
questions and doubts raised by
these productions.
But even the actors were
somewhat confused about the
general meaning of the plays
although in the discussion they
expressed t h e i r convictions
about individual characters.
Patrick Hines, who plas the
ponipts, bulbous auxiliary Bis-
hop Simon Laquedeem, explain-
ed Chronicles has a unique posi-
ion in shock value so often at-
tribut ed to the Theatre of the
Absurd. Ghelderode has the
quality of making you laugh and
in the next instant that same
scene becomes outrageous, lie
said. "Characters change as in
orchestration; their entrance
statement says one thing, but
their following lines are rarely
contiguous to it he added.
The overtones of the play,
Hines explained, are distinctly
Christian. The life and death of
the Bishop bears a remarkable
similarity to that of Christ, with
mentions of "the fisherman"
and an indistinct family back-
ground. The only major differ-
ence is that the Bishop is the
anti-Christ
At the end of the play, one
student observed, the characters
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mai
GUILD
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
UGETSU
dir. Kenii Mizoqucki
(1953
-A potter in an age of
violence bewitched by
Spirits
"YOU BETCHA'

are relieved of deterrents to
their individual happiness with
final realization that their evil
is going to continue. The rotund
auxiliary Bishop finally defa-
cates (a pleasure that has been
denied him), the massing crowd
begins to burn the palace, and
the dead Bishop, who is now
walking around, chokes up the
sacramental host.
Tom Toner, a member of the
cast, said the meaning of the
anti-Christ Bishop choking on
the host is ambiguous. "You
can't be sure if he is merely
not able to swallow it or if he is
being poisoned," Toner said.
In the final scene, the "mad
defacation dance," Hines claims
that the audience thinks the
slang term for the word is being
said. But the members of the
cast were emphatic that they
merely said "Shi . . . shi." How-
ever, Hines proudly admitted, "I
did say it last night-big as
life."
One co-ed countered, "Well
I sure smelled it." At which
point Hines requested to know
who was sitting next to her.
While smoke permeates the
final set, Larry Guittard, who
plays the hunchback vicar, said
the illusions made throughout
the play indicate the palace is
most definitely being burned by
the massing crowds outside who
are angered by the mysterious
death.of the Bishop.
Sodomnati, the Nuncio's slight-
ly effeminate secretary from
Roine, played by Christopher
Walkin, explained his role rep-
resents the "law and order
Church." The name implies he
is also twisted, though not ne-
cessarily in the same manner
as the other members of the
clergy who mysteriously work
their way about the stage and
each other.
The subtle contrast between
the sodomite and the Jew, Si-
mon Laquedeem, b e c o m e s
stangely resolved for an equi-
valence in evil. Toner, explain-
ed the name of Simon Laque-
deem is associated with the

wandering Jew who indeed does
become a prince of the Church.
Questions about Samual Beck-
ett's Play centered on its care-
fully timed lighting and rhy-
thmic speaking. In Play, three
heads speak of their past lives in
relation to one another, but
with no actual interplay between
them. Elizabeth Perry, who
plays the mistress said the two
characters, with her in hell -
a man and his wife - are con-
fronted with their past living
arrangement. The three are sup-
posedly speaking simultaneous-
ly though they are actually talk-
ing at different times. One real-
izes finally, Miss Perry said,
that they are alone in their bur-
ial urns and aren't even aware
of each other.
The work was written like a
fugue Miss Perry said. It re-
peats itself in a double t i m e,
picking tip both rhythm a n d
clarity.
The light which monitors the
actors speech is the 'you' so of-
ten referred to in the play, one
student suggested. It was added
that you don't know which is
worse, silence or continuous
talking.
Both Beckett and Ghelderode
fail because they lack clarity on
the points they are trying to
make. "The theatr'e should be a
distillation of ideas," Walkin
said.
But most students and cast.felt
the nebulous meanings of the
plays made them so intriguing.
The viewer must work harder
at interpreting An idea instead
of having explicit ideas thrown
into his lap.
Correction
The Fifth Dimension
Concert will be
at 8:30

If any "concerned citizens"
fear that the lyrics in rock and
roll protest songs are subverting
the minds of American youth,
two University sociologists claim
they have nothing to fear. Ac-
tually the sociologists say quite
the opposite case is ti'ue: Most
teenager's who listen to rock pro-
test songs just don't understand
the lyrics.
According to John P. Robin-
son and Paul Hirsch, it's the
beat of a song--not the message
which appeals to teenagers.
In fact, their study of 430 high
school students in Detroit and
240 students in Grand Rapids,
shows that liking a particular
song and understanding the
meaning of its lyrics have no re-
lation at all.
"70 per cent of the students
said they liked a record more
for its beat than for its mes-
sage," the Robinson and Hirsch
study claims, "most of the teen-
agers did not understand the
lyrics or were indifferent." In
fact, the study shows that pro-
test songs were the least popular
form of rock, ranking behind
rhythm and blues, and tradi-
tional rock.
Those who do like the protest
songs were "a relatively small
group of white middle- and
upper-class teenagers." The stu-
dy claims that "By and large,
these were above average stu-
dents in white-collar and profes-
sional occupations. In other
words, the contemporary rock
that is composed and sung by
middle-class rebels appeals pri-
miarily to middle-class listeners."

While these students accurate-
ly perceived the message be-
hind several songs, Robinson
and Hirsch, claims the vast ma-
jority of students "sort of, more
or less, or sometimes" under-
stand the lyrics.
The students were asked to
explain the meaning of several
popular songs with protest
themes. Included in the list were
"Ode to Billy Joe" (indifference
to tragedy); "Incense and Pep-
permints," "Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds," and "The Condi-
tion My Condition Was In"
tdrugs); "Heavy Music" and
"Gimme the Green Light" (sex),
and "Skip-a-Rope" (parental
hypocrisy>.'
While upper - middle - class
teenagers both understood the
meaning of the protest songs,
and prefer'ed these songs over
others, the large majority of the
students did not get the message
of these records. Only a third
who reported having heard one
of these songs could write an
adequate explanation of its
lyrics.
The students wer'e also asked
if they would like more, fewer,
0' the same number of songs
on several themes, love affairs,
freedom for teenagers, love and
understanding. Most students
wanted fewer songs about drugs,
more about love and under-
standing, and about the same
number on the other topics.
Five rock musicians amble up
to stage swinging their guitars
and pelvis' behind them. Before
they begin to play the ever-

serious technicians give the
amps one last check, squeezing
out eerie sounds until they are
mystically at the right pitch.
Just before the first note is
sounded, the technician stands
back, handing each one of the
bandsman a fluffy set of ear-
muffs.
If Dr. Ralph R. Rupp, audi-
ology co-ordinator at the Uni-
versity's speech clinic, was the
Grand Manager of all rock
bands, all performances might
follow this same pattern. From
several studies made by the
speech clinic, Dr. Rupp con-
cludes that people who say rock
and roll music hurts their ears
may be passing more than ar-
tistic judgment.
And those who wish to con-
tinue listening to rock music
should take the following pre-
cautions:
-Musicians should wear ear
defenders or protectors in order
to reduce the intensive levels
of the music by 20 to 30 de-
cibles;
-Periodic audiologic review
should be made on the musi-
cians' hearing so that any

change in efficiency could be
observed and activity modifica-
tion be proposed where neces-
sary;
-Local governmental health
units should establish "safe"
maximum allowable sound pres-
sure levels for electronic am-
plifiers. Dr. Rupp suggests that
100 decibels should be the max-
imum limit.
One of Dr. Rupp's studies, for
example, indicates that rock
musicians exhibit a greater per-
manent loss of high-frequency
hearing than members of a rifle
team. And both groups were
markedly poorer in high fr'e-
quency hearing efficiency than
groups not exposed to similar
noise levels.
In laboratory animals, long
exposure to high intensity noise
produced actual cell damage in
the inner ear.
But local Ann Arbor musi-
cians while agreeing that the
results may be true, express
little fear over the conclusions.
"Look at the Beatles, they've
been playing for eight years and
their ears seem OK," says
Franklin Bach, a member of the

UP. But, he adds after some
concerts "my hearing is tem-
porarily bothered and the bass
player in our band claims his
hearing has gone down."
A close associate of the UP,
Rev. John, says that after con-
certs "the sensory overload tones
down my ability to pick up high
tones." Yet when asked if he
fears the consequences, the Rev.
replied, "It's the same kind of
danger as when you drive your
car, it just something you have
to get used to."
"The out-of-town bands like
the Cream or the Blue Cheer,
have tons of equipment which
they keep on increasing instead
of improving," says Bach. "If
the equipment were improved,
this type of war could be avoid-
ed. Instead of competing for
sound, bands could attempt to
try new things with sound. But
with the equipment we presently
have, you can't produce the
sounds you want."
Currently the federal govern-
ment limits the decible level of
construction sites to 85. The
approximate "pain threshold" is
about 120 decibles.


I


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Friday, Oct. 70

UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
presentation
LIOMANIAN CHORALE
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Program includes music of the Renaissance in costume; and folk songs sung
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Detroit News
Michigan Daily

TONIGHT AT 8:00!

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