Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Kazantzakis'
new life on
'Odyssey'
given
Play of month opens'
individual sales
Tuesday, November 3, 1970
"I HAD MY GUTS TWISTED BY 'Z' AND
'EASY RIDER,' AND I DID NOT THINK
THEY COULD DO IT AGAIN!"
--Harlon Ellisoni, L.A. Free Press !
nterpretive stage
By HERB MOTLEY,
Nikos Kazantzakis is a Greek
author, philosopher and p 1 a y-
wright. His best known work in
the United States is Zorba, the,
Greek because of its success as a
movie. But he considered Odys-
sey his utimate accomplishment,
beside which all his others were
insignificant. Its greatness was
made available to the English-
speaking world in 1958 through
the translation of Kimon Friar.'
That same year, Professor Clar-
ibel Baird was given a ,copy for
Christmas by her husband. This
thoughtful gift began to repre-
sent a marriage of another sort
for Professor Baird, one of ex-
citing fascination.
"I began reading it at once."
she describes. "And I kept want-
ing to read it aloud to some-
one." This natural instinct, in
a professor of Oral Interpreta-
tion, began to see a public real-
ization early in 1965.
"I felt there was dramatic
validity in the poem which
could be brought across on
stage, so I tried a section of it
with a class. My original inten-
tion, if that succeeded, was to
put together four scripts which
would be performed at intervals
close enough together so ,the
thread would not be lost. The
difficulty of re-working an epic
poem into theatrical form was
tremendous. I soon saw that the
total effect might be somewhat
akin to listening to the Ring
Cycle all at one sitting. So .I
decided to begin with just a
small segment. After many re-
finements, we are now working
with a script of about fifteen
hundred lines running under
two hours."
One of the earlier versions,
done-by her 1965 class, convinced
her that the project was worth
pursuing. "Now I wanted to see
how it might go with a full pro-
duction, combining Kazantzakis'
language with some of the ma-
chinery 'of the theatre. When
presented to the Theatre Com-
mittee, there was one common
sentiment: 'It's perfectly beau-
tiful poetry, but IT WON'T
SELL!' So I took the script
back for another re-working,
pruning and tightening.
Prof. Claribel Baird
"For a piece to be dramatic,
one must keep the gutsy nar-
rative, and yet one reason for
doing it in the first place is
so people can hear the sound
of the more brilliantly lyric pas-
sages. As a result, I decided
to restrict my choice to the first
four sections.
"Kazantzakis begins w h e r e
Homer leaves off, then he puts
Odysseus into - not a modern
situation - but the implicationt
is clear that these are modern
anxieties, modern situations and
decisions. The entire poem ex-
presses Kazantzakis' own spirit-
ual struggle, out of which he
learned 'not only to bear up un-
der every necessity, but to love
it.' For him, as for Joyce, Odys-
seus seems an appropriate char-
acter for his spokesman."
Baird turns to Kazantzakis
himself for explanation: "As far
as I am concerned," he has writ-
ten, "no. age is more epical than
ours. It is in such ages - when
one myth fades away and ano-
ther comes into being/ - that
epics are created. As I see it, the
'Odyssea' is a new epical and
dramatical attempt of modern
man to find deliverance, by
passing though all the stages of
contemporary anxiety and by
seeking the most desperate
hopes.
Little by little I began to un-
derstand - not yet the depth
or meaning of this work - but
the scope and magnitude. I be-
gan also to appreciate more ful-
ly a conversation I had listened
to, just as I arrived, between the
' lively, gray-haired lady before
me and a student. The young
girl, a freshman, had come to
inquire whether there was any
possibility of her getting into
a class for next term' - any
class, the subject wasn't im-
portant - for she had been told
that next semester would be the
last one for the famous "Clari-
bel Courses" dating back over
twenty years and more. Baird's
retirement in May will end an
association with the University
which began in the summer of
1937,It has continued since
with a long history of roles per-
formed and productions direct-
ed, classes taught and students
loved. It is perhaps totally ap-
propriate that the Odyssey
should be her last show as a
faculty member, for she has
truly an epic stature within the
Speech Department.
The Odyssey continues a pro-
duction style which has been
used before in some of Baird's
earlier projects. "Our audiences
have had some experience with
this kind of theatre where peo-
ple speak narrative as well as
dialogue. We've done a script
from O'Casey's autobiography:
Christopher Fry's The F i r s t
Born and Boy with a Cart -
and Under Milk Wood is this
kind of thing - you have narra-
tion plus dialogue. However
this script poses an additional
challenge to the actor. Y o u
simple would not consider chang-
ing a line of Kazantzakis' poetry
in order to cut out the 'He said'
or 'He spoke in such and such
a way' and so on. (Of course,
there was never any presump-
tuous thought of adapting the
text to.straight drama) There-
fore an actor may speak a part
of the narrative which intro-
duces his speech, and this is
something we haven't done be-
fore.
"Some other titles we have
used for this kind of presenta-
tion don't really fit. It's just a
presentation of a poetic script,
which is at the same time ex-
ceedingly dramatic,' so as to
get it across in the most en-
joyable and the most appro-
priate way. Nothing we do must
interfere with the communica-
tion of this poem. There are light-
ing and costumes projections and
some simple movement (not
quite choregraphy). All of these
I would describe as serviceable
in intent. We are trying to de-
lete anything which draws too
much .attention in and of itself
and thus districts from the
poem."
Beyond these performances
(November 4-7 at Trueblood),
another production is planned
at Wisconsin State University
by Albert Katz, a former stu-
dent of Baird's who helped
greatly with the cutting and
reading of the script for tim-
ing. "I hope he will prepare the
three other scripts I had en-
visioned to enable the presenta-
tion of the complete work some-
time.
I haven't thought about com-
mercial possibilities for this one.
I haven't even asked Simon and
Schuster if I can copyright it;
I'm just grateful for t h e i r
permission for the project. But
we won't really know what its
value is until we see whether
audiences like it. That's the test.
People go to the theater today
and don't know what to expect
when they get there. What's im-
portant is whether it pleases
them when they get inside. In
this case, I think anyone who
appreciates the choice and or-
dering of words in language
cannot help but be excited by
Kazantzakis and by the excel-
lent, translation by Kimon
Friar."
The excitement and enthus-
iasm is unmistakable in her
voice, even though the pressure
of the final rehearsals. For
Baird, this particular Odyssey
is nearly o'ver. For her aud-
iences, it has just begun.
The Professional Theatre Pro-
gram of the University will open
sales for individual shows in its
Play of the Month Series to-
morrow at 10 a.m.
With over 75 per cent of the
available seats sold at a sub-
scription rate (better than 50
per cent of the subscribers are
University students), the de-
mand for the remaining choice
seats will be at a., premium,
Those wishing to purchase in-
dividual shows are advised to
come early as the PTP box of-
fice staff predicts a demand as
great as last season's offering
of Harvey.
Certainly, this year's series is
the most striking Broadway and
Off-Broadway touring attrac-
tions the Professional Theatre
\Program has ever assembled,
according to-Executive Director
Robert C. Schnitzer. The series
will commence with 1776 this
month and run through April.
1776, the delightful musical
based on American historical
themes currently running on
Broadway, will be presented for
two performances (matinee and
evening) on Sunday, Nov. 15, in
Hill Aud. Following this will be
performances of Plaza Suite
later in November and You're
a Good Man Charlie Brown in
December.
PTP's first offering for 1971
will be the electrifying musical
Zorba, which will be presented
Jan. 11-12. Hadrian VII, which
has been hailed by London arid
New York reviewers as being
"superb" and "enthralling," will
be the fifth distinguished at-
traction of the 1970-71 Play of
the Month Series when it plays
in Ma'rch.
Climaxing the season will be
Hair, now playing the major
continents, next April.
Box office for these distin-
guished productions opens to-
morrow and will contihue Mon-
day through Friday 10-1 and
2-5 in the lobby of Lydia Men-
delssohn Theatre. For further
information phone 764-5040.
(paid political ad.)
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wife is starving. Is
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Voter
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--records--
Appreciating an old
Hiasidic troubadour
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9 p.m area.
By BERT STRATTON
Bob Dylan, that old hand at
breaking up peoples' hearts and
other parts. Bob Dylan, w ho
we've all heard on records since
1965 or whenever, he first made
it, and since whenever we go to
London, or to dormitories, or
out in the woods. Somebdy al-
ways has got Bob Dylan with
thlem.
And my stomach for one, just
can't sit still for Bob - be-
cause he's a nervous Jew who's
got too much fame and it just
makes everybody jumpy.
Like Bob Dylan is the air wave
of Radio Free Europe and Other
Parts, he's in the air, and some-
tiies, like on Saturday after-
noon with the "Tombstone
Blues" playing, you feel glad
that Bob Dylan is at least down-
stairs and not in the same room
with you. Bob Dylan is no friend,
stuffing his music-rags in those
grey vacancies which are h a 1 f
of any human head. Bob Dylan
is crawling through magazines
and staring his scraggly beard
down our intestines, villa for our
thoughts. And how come peo-
ple (everybody) gets upset,
down inside, when Bob Dylan
doesn't make a great recording?
He has made Self-Portrait (Co-
lumbia) which might just be
another record - like say Boo
or the Moody Blues - but, no
matter cause Bob Dylan is all
over the field, the inheritor of
Brooks Robinson's G o 1 d e n
Glove, and even when we had
autographed gloves with names
like Mickey Mantle, Alvin Dark,
and Johniny Kucks, we must
have been hearing Bob Dylan,
the Northerly wind blowing
crazy tunes down the Lakes.
And in Cleveland, when we
didn't give a damn for any mu-
sic, except the Four Seasons and
Chubby Checker, we must have
been getting acclimated (very
slowly) to the new taut stom-
achs -and Bob Dylan and t h e
hairy chests that make the days
(today) what they are.
Now the college students take
the air seriously and as a first
concern, singing rock and roll
until our very final deaths, and
the talk is often belabored, so
hard, because capturing rain-
drops and air and all the gas we
breathe is just too difficult.
But when the old people say
Bob Dylan is no ordinary Jew
but a Hasidic priest, then I be-
come a little perked up. My cof-
fee cup turns over new sugars
for my stomach, Wand an eerie
feeling comes, to hear that Bob
Dylan is the bearded Jew my
grandfather, either one, saw in
Russia. When Bob Dylan gets
nervous I can understand, be-
cause what would any Russian
Jew do if he were asked to play
before 400,000 befuddled and
droopy European ears at the Isle
of Wight?
Bob Dylan is in the air, and
howling sad poems, carrying us
down into back roads and high-
way rest-stations, where we can
just cool it - faraway from old
Desolation Row. We go back
to the insides of America' and
find Bob Dylan there too and
we don't get pissed-off and sad,
just a little confused. We come
to feel our stomachs as some-
thing greater and more rumb-
ling, as earthquakes of potential
energy, where we can breath-
out all our leaf-rustling
thoughts, where we can take
Bob Dylan and - digest him,
knowing that his Character in
the inhuman Bleak makes it all
easier for us to stomach.
But why finish off Bob Dylan
when he's only thirty or what-
ever, because he's put out a bad
record, which is what the music
magazines call Self-Portrait,
why should we let Bob Dylan
die so early - like we let Char-
lie Parker go, like we let Jimi
Hendrix go. For us people who
need Bob Dylan, we say let him
live in peace, let us get on with
our breathing, let Bob Dylan
be with us when it's the right
time, and let Bob Dylan, him-
self, live.
TRANSCENDENTIAL
MEDITATION
As Taught By
MAHARISHI
MAHESH
YOGI
4
U
INTRODUCTORY LECTURE:
NAT. 5(1 AUDITORIUM, NOV. 3, 1 800 P.M.
I
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NOVEMBER 4
Usher sign-up for the Professional Camp Mataponi, Maine, girls, min.
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and Wed, Nov. 4, 2:30-5 p.m. in arts, register by phone, 764-7460, or come
lobby of Hill Aud. at East Circle door., in.
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sign up for one another, but no one else Miss Liberty, London, England, girls
may. only, register by phone or stope in.
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{J
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is
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THIS FRIDAY! NOV. 6!
, TG.I*F*
RECORDS
4 to 6 p.m. COKES & DONUTS
SOFT TALK
AT-
SHALOM HOUSE-1429 Hill St.
bib overalls?
that's right. . .bib overalls!
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room, "Express Yourself."
Sizes 28 to 36.
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"PERFORMANCE"
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The Center for Afro-American and African Studies
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BLACK PERSPECTIVES IN THE SEVENTIES
'k~l~lRM rC Af f'r I l m !O AM 5I A A m - -F %&% % A
THE
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