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I HtMICH IbAN DAILY
Tuesday, May
il , Al
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-theatre,
dowbooks 'Sea Gull': Ski'mming the surface
6th
GREAT
WEEK
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Chiekhov people:'
an&d Polinai
<RI~OTCOVER4G1
Sorin (Colin Piney)
(Betty Sinclair)
By FRITZ LYON
Even though there are only
four major Chiekhov plays, they
are in no danger of :overexpo-
sure, because Chekhov is so dif-
ficult to do well. Productions
are usually limited to repertory
companies who can afford to
ke~p one group of actors in re-
hearsal long ;enough to plumb
the, subtleties of the characters.
Chekhov people are' strange
mixtures of melodrama, farce,
and tragedy; the actor must
capture a delicate balance and
make it real life, not silly.,com-
edy or sentimental stage life.
The characters themselves be-
lieve 'they are. living in tragedy,
while the audience ,sees thema
stumibling through a far'ce.
The'resulting bathos is pathe-
tically human; the play is strue-
tured around an intolerable ac-
Mul~ation of this balthos that.
leads to a climax of tragic pro-
portions. The cliinactic impact
is even more powerful bee~rse
of , the play's humanity, be-
cause the Chekhov people aren't,
iHerculean heroes.
They are inef f ctual buffoons
who only realize their ineffec-
tuality and buffoonery in thieir'
deepest despair.,
Sou~nds, like absurd theatre.
The, trouble with absurdist
characters, however, is that
Sthey seem' Contrived, 'whereas
Ch khow people live' next door
and work in your, office and
run the University. Watching
Chekhov is dann scaryr.
Acting Chekhov is scarier.
1Prof. Kenneth Rowe once told
'me that the best 'production of
Three Sisters he ever saw was
in a Scandinavian. repertory
theatre that had been perform-
ing the play for seven winter
seasons with the same cast.
You have to use Stanislavski's
method with Chekhov; you have
to live the part..
And yet, Stanislavski was re-
sponsible for .mrisinterpreting
~Chekhov as well as for making
him famous. The greatest dan-
ger in lacting Chekhov is oaver-
sentimentalizing - the ridic-
-ulous factor must always be
present. 'The Cherry Orchard
is a comed4 As its subtitle ("A
Comedy ii Four Acfs")- in-
>dicates; so are Dr. Strangelove
and. WtAiting .For Godot.
Which brings me around (the
Yong way) to the company
which this article su.pposedly
concerns. The John Fernald
Company is now performing
The Sea Gull at the Meadow
Y'Brook Theatre ( through~ June
2) in Rochester; Michigan (I"
know it's a long way to drive,
bout how hungry do" you get for
Chekhov?). If you really plan
to go, wait two weeks for the
actors to grow into their: parts
and then take the 90-minute
drive to Oakland University.
The central problem with the
Production on opening night
was that the actors playing the
three major roles were still act-
ing; that is, they looked like
they were acting.
The Sea Gull is the first of
Chekhov's masterpieces,, and
the melodrama element is less
refined and restrained than in
the later plays. The actors wvith
the larger roles are the' first to
suffer (pun intended) from the
melodrama. Perhaps they }need.
a few weeks to) gain control of
the comic complexities,, of their
characters.
I could be wrong here, but I
think the play needs more
~comedy. Curt Dawson as Kon-
stantin, the unsuccessful writer,
seems to be too' serious about
playing the Arch Unsuccessfulr
Writer., Konstantin- is more of
a fool and less of an "innocent
victim than Dawson suggests."
Lans Traverse as Nina is sub-
ject to the same difficulty, For
example,; in delivering the re-
frain : "I am a sea gull . },
No, that's not it," she skimis
the surface.and doesn't feel the
anguish of her naive roman-
ticism. 'When she leaves Kon-
stAntin, one feels she may ac-
tually becom~e a successful ac-'
tress rather than the melo-
dramatic overactress she had
been previously.
Jenny Laird as Madame Tre-
plev seems contrived occasion-
ally, but her finest moments
would indipate that her pro-
blem is relaxation, not inter-
pretation.
I've given the negative,,sides
first, because they involve' the
main roles. What 'leads me to
think that the production may
improve these weaknesses in'
time. is that the minor roles, al-
most without exception, were
acted with magnificence.' To
name a' few:
Colin, Piney as Sorin gives a
brilliant, performance, though
his' role* is relatively small. His
farce bits we're perfectly timed
(how else do you describe some-
thing funny?), and; his times
of sadness were. so carefuly
controlled that Chekhov would
have wept.
Betty Sinclair as Polina crea-
tes that maudlin sentimentality
that makes you laugh and then
apologize for your laughing.
Eric Berry as Dorn and Ge-
orge Guidall as Trigorin are real
people every minute, even
though their characters are
somewhat less. comic. Barbara
Caruso as Masha is conspicu-
ously inconspicuous;: her drunk
scene is believable because she
does not put on a stage-drunk
act. Otho Burr as Medvedenko
might take more advantage of
his opportunities for farce.
Director Johan Fernald has as-
sembled and coordinated a po-
tentially excellent production
of an :extremely tough play.,
I wasn't completely satisfied
With the performance, 'but if
the weaknesses improve t~o the
hlevel of the stren~gths, this pro-
duction would be well Worth
'going out of your way' to see.
It's a rare cha4ice to see good
C %iekhov.
COL(3MBI PICTURES presents &
Stanley Kramer
producron
Spencer 1Sidney
TRACY 'POITIERd
Katharine
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FROM THE COMPANY THAT GAVE YOU THE YEAR'S MOST
TALKED, ABOUT MOTION 'PICTURE, "I,;'A WOMAN."
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BEST ACTRESS- KATHARINE HEPBURN
BEST SCREEN PLAY
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- ~ TECHNICOLOR' '
Free Press wins
'68 Puli*tzer Priz e
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NEW YORK (P) - The Detroit of their work, "The Story of Civ-
Free Press won a 1968 Pulitzer ilization." I
Prize for journalistic excellaene eorge Crumb was awarded the
yesterday, for its coverage of last ! musie prize for his orchestral
su.mmer's riots there. s~uite, "'Echoes of Time and the
The staff was praised for its River" performe~d for the first
investigation of the causes of the time May 26, 1967. by the ,Chicago
riots and their \inquiry into. the Syrpphony Orchestra.
manner of each riot victim's "The Pulitzer Prize for fiction
death. wvent to William Styron for' his
In the field of arts, the history boo, "The Confessions of Nat
award was m~ade 'to Bernard Treboodonteolyefc
Bailyn for his "The Ideological jTurver,"lasedvonthenlymeffc-n
Origilns. of the American Revolu-tiveslaeeory.nAmria
tion." He hats written, extensively hsoy
on American history. George F. Kennan, a- veteran
Thie prize in poetry, was given to diplom~at, became a two-time prize
Anthony Hecht for "The' Hard winner, He received the X1968,
Houirs," his fourth work. His first award for biography for', his
book~ of poems was published in "Memoirs, '1925-1950." He was the1
1954. 1957 winner in histor'y.
Will Durant and his wife, Ariel, !;Fo the fourth time in-the past
won, the geeal non-fiction 'prize! six years, the Columbia University
with "Rousseau and Revolution,"j Board of Trustees omitted a Pu-
the. 1th and concluding volume litzer Prize for' drama.
UTA LEVKA-CLAUDE RINGER-CARL MOHNER, BARBARA VALENTINE - WALTER WILTZ- CHRISTIANE RUCKER
Screenplawt by Jesse Vogel -rom a story by Prosper Mdrimde " an Amsterdam Fdm Corpoation Production " Produced and D rected b~y FAOIY MEIZ0GIR
Reed through AUOUBOCN tFILM~j7A EA TMA COLQR " ULTRASCOAPE Recommmnded for THE MATURE ADULTf
Ill-f ate ' lovers: Konstanin (Curt CDawson)
And Nina,(Lana..'Traverse)
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D A[LY OFFICIA.L B ULLET I"N,
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ANNOUNCING: the 2nd Annual Ann?
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sity of Michigan for which The
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sent in TYPEWRITTEN formn to
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Calendar items appear only once.
Stuident organization notices are
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moeinfomation call 764-9470.
TUESDAY, MAY 7
Day Calendar
Sfiga X~i-Lecture--Dr. Thomas T.
3olsxrith, National Sigma Xi Lectu~r-
er,professor of physics,' Furman Uni<-
versity, 'Greenville, S.C.,,Tuesday, May
7, Rackham Amphitheater, 8:00 p m. ,
The followvilti are foreign visitors
who, can be reached through the For-
eign Visitor Programs Office,- 764-2148..
versity,, Greenville, S.C., 'Rackham nAmp-
phitheater, 8:00 p.m.
,D. oushang Mvontaseri, Chancellor,
Tabriz University, Iran, May 5-10.
Dr. Adam Praczek, Psychologist, Staff
Psycholof&%cal Laboratory, University of
Warsaw , May 6-10.
Mr. Brian Whelan, Deputy Director,
Irish' Management Institute, 'Dublin,
May 7-9.
Dr. and Mrs. Kroo, Professor of Mus-
icology, Ference Liszt Academny; M~usi-
cal Editin-C4,.hief anid Music Critic
Hungarian] Radio-TV, Budapest, May 7.
M~r. Jose' Tola, Vice-Rector, Pontifico
U~niversity; Director, Pure and Applied
Mtathematics; President of' Peruvian
AcademyW of Science, May8-.
Miss Ann 'MCue and Miss Carol
Brook~s, Griaduate stu~dents in Psychia-
tric Nursing, Ma.y 12-24.
Dr. Toshio Horiuchi, Professor of Ed-
ucational, Psychology, Tokyo University
of Liberal Arts and Education, Japan,
May 13. "
Mr. Benjamin Machado, . Attorney-
Genera~l of Administrative Counsel of
Econoic Defense of the Ministry of
Justce for Brazil, Myay 14,
Placementr
BUREAU OF APPOINTMENTS
3200 SAB
GENERAL DIVISION
Currnt Position Opeings received
by 13en~eraI 'Division, call 764-7460 for
furtcher information.
FSEE Applicationsi for next test, June
15, are due Wed., May 8. Applications:
available at General Division. :
'W.'R. Grace & 'Co., N.Y.C. -- Latin
Amterican Operations, Assistant Main-
ager of Administrative Controls Dlvi-
sion. MBA, financially oriented, uner
graduate degree in engineering pre'-
ferred, prefer some experience in Latin
A~meric, in operations involving inktg.,
finance or production.
Mitsui Comp~any, U.S.A., Inc., South-
field, Mich. - Administrative Assistant
to Gnri. Mgr, for training other Sales-
men, publ. rei., and deal with Japan-
ese reps, visiting office. Man, no spe-t
cifoc educational requirements, must
speak Japanese. TIrding, firm, export
and import'7or steel auto parts for G*M
and Ford.
New H~orizons of Oakland County,
Inc., Madison Heights, Mich. -- Voca-
tional Counselor, B A in fields of "Spe.'
ed.,' Voc.- coons., and MA in Rehabili-
tationi Counseling, some exper. with
mentally. handicapped preferred.
Kent Public School System, Kent,i
Washington - Coordinator of. Coin-
{ munication~s, BA in Journ., Publ. Re-
lotions, Communications or education
with major in commuications, min. 3.
yfears exper. in radio, TV.' pubi. rela-
tions, journ., ability to write effec-
tively, knowl. lay-out and 'offset print-
ing iech,
John Michael Kohler Arts - Center,
Sheboygan, Wis. - Asst.' Director, BA
level degree and some experience, will
control operation 'and coordination of
experimental educational programs in
Svisual a~nd perfr ming arts, serve. as
liaisona between Arts C enter and' other
educational agencies. Must have ex-
ecutive and organizational- ability.
Encyclopaedia-l Britannica, Chicago,
Ill. - Research ,Edgtor, do library' ire-
search and write research papers on
topics of encyclopaedic nature, MA in
sci., physics, chem., geWo.,, biochem.,
physiol., or zoo.
Local- organization -Laboratory
Technologists, Assistants in research
with BS/MS degrees in Chem. or fBi.
some lab. exper. helpful. Planner, MA
in Planning plus 2 years related ex-'
per. Sanitarian, BA/BS Sanitary Sci.,
fBi., or Bacteriol., 'MPH desirable, not
necess., exper. with' local, state or na-
tional health dept. or a 'college, or{
university.
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