THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February Z, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Tuesday, February 2, 1971 !rian Bedford: Actors are By LAURIE HARRIS n actor always seems remov- from the viewer. He is set up a mammoth screen as a sym- of man or he is under bright its on a stage behind a mask make-up and a plethora of tume. Brian Bedford. present- the lead in the Phoenix Pro- tion's School for Wives, is one h actor. He has been seen on adway in leads in The Misan- ape, Private Lives or The ack and has been featured in eral movies. Vhen I went to speak to him e last week, I wasn't sure he s human. I wasn't sure any or I had ever seen really ex- d behind the false vision of atre. But there he was, six t of English warmth and hu- director. The director takes pieces and scenes, cuts and screens them until his desired effect is the end result. On stage, the feelings aroused are totally in the hands of the actors as they respond directly to the audi- ence and are responsible for what that audience sees. And though movies may take you to various parts of the world filming on location, Bedford finds them often demoralizing. In Restoration Comedy roles he has Prix, for instance, he worked only about four months. The other time was spent adjusting cam- eras, retakes and waiting around until the director gets to your next scene. In the theatre Bed- ford is constantly present during the preliminaries to an opening. He often suggests directing, lighting and costuming, "pushing my nose into it when it's not re- quired." In the last few years he has worked with director Stephen Porter, costumer Nancy Potts and designer Jomes Tilton (all of whom have worked on School for Wives). The four of them, Bed- ford says, work well together and "are not too conscious of the barriers to their actual area of distribution, each imposing a little in the other's field." But acting isn't Bedford's whole 1 iuman life. He likes to retire to his country home in upper New York State, a house built by the Dutch in 1720. It was the inspiration of this home that first interested him in the early American Primi- tive artists and furniture. His art collection has expanded to in- clude such contemporary artists as Milton Avery and Franz Kline and he is a devotee of Sir Ken- neth Clark, the English Art his- torian. His four acres have a small vegetable garden and an orchard and a "tractor which I love to fool around on." The country environment is vastly different than his childhood in Yorkshire-a town of "woolen mills and dark, grubby buildings" and it also allows him to func- tion in New York. Bedford finds the city both "a great place to return to and a See BEDFORD, Page 8 Does her anger at a domineering husband justify a wife's taking a lover? % The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students at 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: $5 by carrier, $5 by mail. - Wednesday & Thursday, February 2nd & 3rd in co-operation with the Department of English THE DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH STUDENT LABORATORY THEATRE presents two original one-acts TRIAD MAIL ORDER MISTRESS by Michael Hooker by Melvin Foster ARENA THEATRE, Frieze Building Promptly at 4:10 P.M. or earlier if theatre is filled -ADMISSION FREE- WHO'S HUGHES? 1i. -I- ENDS TONIGHT Poromount Pictures Presents An AW jdFbk Prcduction ALASKA m e BAJAL Technicoor' AParomnoxjruPctu.re - COLOR Compared to the flamboyant he eight-month filming of Grand een noted for around Ann Arbor e was dressed quietly in a blue ery straight suit, a sort of furry lack coat pulled up onto his houlders and he sunk back deep- y into its pile. A heavily knit carf wrapped itself around his hroat and creeped up into his ace. But two very bright eyes onstantly shining, and always boughful smiled hello at me. He vas real! He told me he first played [amlet when he was only twenty ne and still lived in England 3e played' the role again tW(c ,t ,Q CINEMA GUILD TUES., FEB. 2 American Film Studies SUNRISE dir. F. W. Murnaw (1927) Unique moving camera and stark block and white imagery in this great film from a fine director who died young. I I summers ago in Stratford, Con- and profe& necticut. The fourteen year inter- type of au play has allowed him to "de- ing and ap velop feeling and understanding" of drama for the role. Younger actors, often in N Bedford feels, haven't always de- plays just s veloped the technique of com- tending th munication but with experience, It is for an actor acquires better voice ence that control and most importantly the tend to p courage to act which arrives con- himself a currently with security on the modern pl o stage. It isn't t3 To act well, Bedford enjoys himself a being in a small theatre "be- but that1 cause nothing is so awful as contempor having to belt it out". Lydia for shock Mendelssohn allows the develop- an audien ment of a delicate, light and an artistic conversational tone. The actor Work in becomes intimate with the audi- different3 ence, something which is not than that often allowed in larger theatres. of a cam But Bedford likes opening a trovert" b show in Ann Arbor, for more than an actort just the theatre. He finds very action on few distractions in this city cony- formed in pared with the constant bother of too drama New York. "When you're open- lous, say ing a play," Bedford says, "you tone down must work about fourteen hours extreme f a day-starting with learning But a m your lines in the morning, re- of the a hearsing through the afternoon and presenting the play in the evening. You have no time for the domestic." Bedford also likes the intellectual atmosphere in an Ann Arbor audience created by the combination of students owl Is I F ssors. He believes this dience has a real feel- ppreciation for the type being produced. Very ew York people attend for the purpose of at- em. this New York audi- Bedford doesn't in- pander. He can't see cting in any of the ays that require nudity. that he can't picture cting in the alltogether, he believes nudity in rary works is created value and attracting ce. It is not applied on c level. the movies requires a kind of concentration of the stage. "In front era you must be an in- but the theatre requires to be flamboyant. And the stage, when trans- nto a movie, becomes atic and almost ridicu- s Bedford, you must the physical action and acial expression. novie also requires less ctor and more of the 7& 9:05 662-8871 ARCH. AUDa. i I ~sterile cuckoo"-7:1 5 "'columbus"-9 :00 DOWNTOWN ANN ^PORUO UWICM^WOAtN 96-700 Starts Tomorrow One Week Only 4:30, 7:00, 9:00 HELD OVER BY POPULAR DEMAND ! "' C AT -22' IS THE MOST MO VING THE MOST INTELLIGENT, THE MOST HUMANE -OHTO HELL WITH IT! - IT'S THE BEST AMERICAN FILM I'VE SEEN THIS YEAR!" -VINCENT CANBY, N.Y. TIMES RA M1E 16I.SIL TONIGHT'S SHOWS: 7 and 9 I 75C - "S..,. .~ ~ I ;' ''> '' ., ''' : , The University of Michigan Bands Presents a ~POS"CONCERT, featuring PETER NERO AND HIS TRIO with The University of Michigan Symphony Band Sunday, Feb. 14 3:030 P.M.s HILL AUDITORIUM TICKETS: $2.00 $2.50 $3.00 MAIL ORDERS: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BANDS 1024 Administration Bldg. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Mail orders will be accepted from 2/1-2 / ALL SEATS RESERVED-- Fw Photos by enny Gainer At State & Liberty Sts. )IAL 62-4 Ofl ,. NI ubscribe to of a mad housewife -NEXT- , '"LOVE STORY" STARTS FEB. 12 Come to the CINEMA GUILD CLAUDE CHABROL FESTIVAL The Michigan Daily m" I I K p I COa *OMA PIC I eS * MSPo. ,IM JACK NICHOLSON "YEAR'S BEST" -N.Y. Film Critics OPEN I P.k. SHOWS: 1:20, 3:10. 5 P.M., 7 P.M., 9 P.M. J . - -E'. 4 "Chabrol was there at the very beginning of the New Wave, first as a critic for Cashiers du Cinema and then as the direc- tor of perhaps the first New Wave film. His Le Beau Serge (1958) pre- ceded Truffaut's The 400 Blows by a few months, and when Godard's Breathless appeared, the original triumverate of New Wave directors was established." -ROGER EBERT, Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 24 KOOPER IS KOMINGI AL KOOPER and the EASY DOES IT BAND will be at HILL AUDITORIUM on FEBRUARY 6 with our own r~ I FLOATING OPERA $ / CLAUDE CHABROL FILM FESTIVAL FEBRUARY 1-7 4 films from the man who learned suspense from Hitchcock. Creator with Godard and Truffaut of the NEW WAVE Chabrol exposes the swell of passion with sudden violence. Heroic gastronomy and the subtle grace of the 7 Capitl Sins. "Chilling and beautiful" the Cinema of Cruely and Compassion" II Jacqueline Sassard and Stephane Audran in LES BICHES{ A MURDER IN EVERY MOVIE: Thu., Feb. 4-LEDA (WEB OF PASSION) 1959. Jean-Paul Bel- j TICKETS ON SALE TODAY in the Michigan Union lobby $2.50 $3.00 $3.50 CHEEP! CHEEP! CHEEP! I Sponsored by the inter-cooperative council L Mol FINAL WEEK ! TONIGHT at 8:00! SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT! I C. SPECIAL Young Men's Long Sleeve Knit Shirts 4x.50 Great buy! Great shirts! Soft orlon acrylics or interlock cottons with long collar, three-button placket styling.. . now at extraordinary savings. Stock up on novelty and solid colors and enjoy their comfort and ease of core. Sizes S,M,L.