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 HURRY !ENDS SOON MON.-WED.-7:10-9:20 THURS.-SUN.--1 :00-3:05- 5:10-7:15-9:30 = C Il Y 0% MUMPjKS 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