Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, December 10, 1969
THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, December 101 1969
New openings on Broadway
By DEBORAH LINDERMAN
NEW YORK - Broadway's
darling this year, like The Great
White Hope last year, is Ind-
ians. The' play, by Arthur Kopit
(Oh Dad, Poor Dad . . . etc.),
is as simple as its name. About
the white man's betrayal of the
Indian -- a betrayal which pre-
figures the white man's betrayal
of other "expendable" peoples,
such as blacks and Vietnamese
--it talkes the form of a Wild
West show run by Buffalo Bill
Cody.
The show within the show,
conducted in the genre on a
large proscenium stage, is a gaudy
wild spree which is punctuated
intermittently by fantasy and
historical flashback. Kopit
wheels freely through the nice-
ties of historical fact, but his
pivotal dramatic occurence is
the gradual vanquishing of Sit-
ting Bull, and this sad and out-
rageous event is counterposed
to the legendary whooping, yell-
ing, and sweet corn whisky
which accompanied us along the
journey to our manifest destiny.
Thus Kopit has accomplished
the rather pointed feat of con-
verting history into a great and
glorious show-a conversion
which is, I presume, intended to
dramatize the calibre of the
American sensibility and its na-
tional attitude toward the Wild
West.
However, though the idea and
the point of view are certainly
clever, and though the play is
conceived in irony, the lang-
uage isn't much. For it is forged
into a number of flat statements
tthus Buffalo Bill: I'm doing
what my country wants. I'm
drawing on what I was and
raising it to a higher level)
and simple-minded ironies (thus
the Grand Duke Alexis of Rus-
sia on an expedition through the
West: The Indian is in no way
wronged by being murdered, be-
ing murdered is his purpose in
life.)
The cast is enormous. T h e
characters being as thin as the
language, this leaves a number
of raucous parables and brassy
theatrics to carry the show. As
a matter of fact, however, t h e
thinness of the characters is in
part a necessary sacrifice to the
ampleness of the spectable. It
would be impossible indeed for
anyone to talk very subtly over
the constant noise of pistol
shots, galloping horses, and the
next thing,
Director Gene Frankel has de-
URTA
elects
Hatcher
The executive board of the
recently formed University Res-
ident Theatre Association
(URTA) has announced the
election of Dr. Harlan Hatcher,
president emeritus of the Uni-
versity, as chairman, and of
Robert C. Schnitzer, executive
director of the University's Pro-
fessional Theatre Program, as
executive director. The new or-
ganization has been created to
promote closer liaison among
university-sponsored profession-
al theatres in the United States.
The URTA was established in
May 1969 at a conference spon-
sored by the Johnson Wax
Foundation at Wingspread, Ra-.
cine, Wis. The meeting was or-
ganized by Dr. Keith Engar,
executive director of the theatre
department of the University of
Utah. It brought together 40
leaders of university profes-
sional drama programs to form
a special division within the
American Educational Theatre
Association.
Dr. Hatcher will guide policy
development and represent the
new association with legislators,
government offices, and major
foundations. Prof. Schnitzer will
handle- organizational and ad-
ministrative affairs.
NATIONAL *ENERAL. CORPORATION
FOX EASTERN THEATS
FOX VILLa5E
375 No. MAPLE RD.-"769-13OO
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MON.-WED.-7:10-9:20
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5:10-7:15-9:30
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BU1THCASSOYAND
THE SUNDANCE KID
When in California Visit
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
vised and used every possible de-
vice for embellishing this spec-
tacle: the flashing of strobes,
presumably to provide a dream
integument for the action; the
pounding of drums; and t h e
dancing of Injuns, which last,
choreographed by Julie Areal
who did Hair, is pretty impres-
sive.
Buffalo Bill enters riding one
of those fake horses inside of
which he is really standing on
his own two feet and which he
deftly reigns in and causes to
buck. The message of the play is
carried by him, its synthetic
hero who has befriended the In-
dians apparently for profit, and
who at the end, when t h e y
have been quelled, strips off a
series of masks from his face
as he recitestheir betrayals.
Stacy Keach plays Buffalo
Bill and he has been much her-
alded in the role. But though he
possesses undeniable showman-
ship, it is my opinion that t h e
play doesn't provide him with
much actual chance to reveal
himself.
All in all, though the spec-
tacle is fun and the message
worthy; the shallowness of the
play's laguage and of its char-
acters seems to triumph in the
end, for it has neither a very
strong impact nor a very lasting
levity.
A Whistle in the Dark is a
pithy and old-fashioned play
about the brutalities wrought by
five Irish brothers and their
hooligan father upon each other.
A first play by Thomas Mur-
phy, it is a play for actors; it
is therefore pleasing that all the
members of the company are,
without exception, distinguished.
Although the script has highs
and lows, it is consistently in-
teresting and there is always
A WHISTLE
INTE lptA K
something to look at, if only the
amazingly Irish faces of the not
very Irish cast.
The father (played by Steph-
en Eliott) is a tyrannical lout-
though he has his panicky mo-
ments-who has brought up his
sons according to rather stern
principles of rowdyism and
bullying. Three of them, who
are just so marty animals, live
with their mild and peaceable
brother Michael and his wife in
Coventry, where Michael evi-
dently seeks to escape the fam-
ily pattern and establish some
sort of respectability.
The father and the youngest
son come down from Ireland to
join in a family brawl with a
rival clan, and this occasion
serves as a catalyst for a dis-
play of interfamilial tensions
which end in disaster.
One does not expect psycho-
logical subtleties from a play
with solid dramatic content,
yet this one could serve as a
model for a case study in small
group processes. It exhibits an
unusual network of filial and
fraternal rivalries and affec-
tions all knotted up into hatred,
envy and a dogged kind of loy-
alty which subsists beyond
everything.
Michael, though a finer man
than his brothers, is, within the
scheme of things, a sidestepper,
and if he bears them no fond-
ness he is still unable to leave
them or the scheme. Thus he is
vulnerable to their charges of
cowardice and priggishness-of
which he half accuses himself
- and is a ready scapegoat for
the father to use in cementing
the loyalty of his otherwise dis-
united sons.
It is touch and go which way
the youngest son, Des, will take
--Michael's, whose pull is strong
and who needs an ally, or the
others', who use the power of
brute force and the taunt of
femininity.
The calamity which ends the
play is dramatically violent and
psychologically ironic, and it is
a fine consummation. But what
fault I did find with the play
was there. For one thing, Di-
rector Arvin Brown has pinned
everything on Michael's single
impetuous act which is sense-
less if it is only a reflex and
should therefore be made to ap-
pear as the end product of an
accumulating anger. For an-
other, that the father, a master
at treachery and sneakiness,
drops his guard under pressure
of this same calamity, does not
appear just-he should instead
be tightening his natural de-
fensiveness. And this, it seems,
is a fault of the script. Other-
Freedom,
By LESLIE WAYNE
It is easy to let one's imagina-
tion run wild about Ivan Klima.
For his life as a reform leader
in the Czech Writers' Unions,
and his run-ins with the Com-
munist regime over his biting
plays, certainly provides enough
material for a year's supply of
"Third Man" dramas.
And only when Klima, who is
currently a visiting professor
in the Slavic Language and Lit-
erature dept., begins to talk,
guarding his observations with
an apologetic, "You see, I'm not
at liberty to say," does the gla-
mour of such political intrigue
drop away and it appears
as a threat to an artist's need
for expression.
But if censorship is a threat,
it is also, Klima admits, an in-
spiration with its own motiva-
tions and reward for an artist.
"The Czech situation is a spec-
ial type of unfreedom," Klima
says in his slow methodical
manes. "Writers and the citi-
zens are in the same situation.
You have relations created be-
tween the artist and the citi-
zen that are a inspiration."
The perennial question of pol-
itical involvement beginning
destructive to an aesthetic sense,
is irrelevant for an artist like
Klima - all writers in a nation
with restrictive controls, can-
not be divorced from a political
role. "Writers are speakers of
the nation and not only of the
writers," Klima says. An artist
never suffers from the feeling
that he is speaking to a
vacuum."
"If I were writing in Eng-
land or America," Klima says,
"I should loose touch with the
people. If you are not a best-
seller, you feel no one is inter-
ested in your writing, or in your
suffering." In Czechoslovakia,
he adds, "there is always a big
audience waiting.
Correction
To the Daily:
Regarding Elliot Simon's re-
view of the Macbeth collage,
Dec. 5, I would like to correct a
statement he made. 'Clearly he
has achieved a visual spectacle
with the popular mixing of lims
with stage drama," writes Simon
of the Marowitz production, but
the fact is that the idea of put-
ting film into the play was not
Marowitz's inspiration at all,
but the brilliant device of David
Frisinger, special effects man
for the production. Marowitz
only demands that there be effi-
gies: David envisaged film rath-
er than statues or sticks, and
the result was mixed media, an
overwhelming success in terms
of design which transformed the
original into an exciting and
profound modern statement.
Moreover, Klima maintains,
"You can find ways to express
yourself quite freely." In an in-
terview in the New York Times,
Klima commented that writers
in Czechoslovakia "could speak
out in allegorical and symbolic
ways and say things that ordin-
ary people couldn't say in ord-
inary ways."
Yet Klima has managed to be
vocal in both direct and in-
direct ways. Besides his plays,
Klima was one of the editors
of the largest Czech daily, Lit-
erni Listy, until it was closed
by the government last May.
Much of what Klima says in
his plays are counched in sym-
bolic terms. The Castle, which
was performed in Ann Arbor
last year, stressed that any ster-
ile group that holds onto its
priviledge is dangerous and will
kill the faith, talent, imagina-
tion and creativity of a people.
Thus, while the audience c a n
make their own inferences, the
general theme is certainly uni-
versal in application.
While The Castle blames t h e
government for stifling creativ-
ity, Klima maintains the artist
can be an even greater censor.
"If you are afraid, yor creativ-
ity will be effectively punished.
If you withdraw before the pres-
sure of circumstances, there will
be a discrepancy between y o u r-
self and your conscience."
Since the Soviety restrictions
on personal freedoms which ac-
companied the August invasion,
the flourishing Czech commun-
ity of filmmakers, writers, and
artists, was forced to abandon.
"Many of the writers have be-
come involved in politics and no
longer have the time to write,"
Klima says, "some have c o m e
abroad like myself.
But since his departure from
i "Christmas Oratorio"
Sa8C
byI.S. Bach
Sunday, December 14
4:30 P.M.
9 Choirs and Orchestra
First Presbyterian Church
1432 WASHTENAW AVE.
cun-freedom' and Ivan Klima
Czechoslovakia nearly three
months ago, Klima has no idea
of the current siftuation. "I can-
not estimate the obstacles which
we shall have to overcome in
connection with our writing, but
many things will change while I
am here," he says, "I hope we
can continue writing like be-
fore," he adds.
Even if the writers are per-
mitted to carry on in their role
as spokesmen for the people,
Klima is not optimistic over
their ability to bring changes in
the government. "Sure writers
did what they could. They pro-
tested and protested, but if you
have no power . . . It's kind of
like your- protests against the
Vietnam war."
CORRECTION:
Needle Arts is not open
Sundays as previously an-
nounced in their Sun, and
Tues. ads.
We regret the error,
"Liza Minnelli has given a per-
formance which is so funny, so
moving, so perfectly crafted and
realized that it should win her
an Academy Award but probably
won't, because Oscar is archaic
and Liza is contemporary!"
-Thomas Thompson,
Life Magazine
GOOD LUCK
during finals
FROM
Student
Book Service
Read and Use
DailyClassifieds
Liza Minnelli
Wendell Burton
Tim Mclntire
TODAY IS LADIES' DAY
NEXT-
"MARLOWE"
STOP!
DO NOT PASS GO,
DO NOT COLLECT $3.98.
Back to Washington,
WASHINGTON NORTH, a display which "brings people to the
Washington Moratorium through pictures, movies and sounds,"
will be at Bursley Hall through this Sunday.
.1
EMU PLAYERS SERIES
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
WED.-SUN., DEC. 10-14 -
EMU's Quirk Auditorium $1.75
Reservations: 482-3453 (weekdays 12:45-4:30)
wise everything is perfect -Betsy Smith
ART PRINT LOAN
RENEW OR RETURN
DEC. 8, 1969-DEC. 12, 1969
8 A.M.-5 P.M. ONLY 1011 SAB
Fines of 25c day after the 12th
ANN ARBOR CIVIC THEATRE
proudly introduces its
"Best Girl"
IrkI
meet her December 14-21
S8:00 P.M.
I+ Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
BOX OFFICE HOURS 10:00 A.M. to 5:00P.M.
668-6300
Buy a snazzy Christmas Present!
"THE MUSIC IS THE MESSAGE"
S the first
IRIS BL AVNTR
MASKED MARAUDERS
KING CRIMSON
Fleetwood Mac
Go directly to:
MARVIN GARDEN'S RECORD SHOPPE
215 S. STATE (in the Little Thing Shop)
NOW IN STOCK: NEW!
1
NICE
STONES
L
iff
'the /kuje PIa ep4
Present
AN EVENING OF IONESCO
"THE LESSON" and
"THE BALD SOPRANO"
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 10
8:00 P.M.
At THE HOUSE
1429 HILL ST.
ADMISSION 75c
PRESENTS
James R. Shilander Killer
Rock Festival
Pie Eating Contest and Exposition
WITH SAGINAW'S
STEW
AND FEATURING THE
WORLD FAMOUS
FLOATING OPERA
Friday. January 9
Z
i
STATE
Shows at: 1-3-
5-7-9:05 P.M.
r
MEMPONmr4rupouft
Ends
Wednesday
dmm
DIAL
668-6416
"An Eloquent, Important Movie!
It Reached Out and Profoundly
Shook Me!"
-NEWSWEEK
".OO nw Nf - . M46 .'
sw t*M u PRNOvGT+QNS pres.M1
A m
"A complete delight, I'm in love with it!
--Judith Crist--NY. MAGAZINE
U? -
N
I