Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, November 5; 19 1U
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, November 5; 19 iU 4.
theatre
Missing
By MAILCIA ABRAMSON
Kcizantzakis
music
Woodstock Nation at college
Whatever the acknowledged
genius of Kazantzakis' The
Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, the
University Players' adaptation
fails to project the depth of the
work.
Admittedly this is a first and
homegrown attempt to create
a dramatic presentation from
Kazantzakis' epic poem of more
than 33,000 lines in 24 books.
But the 1572 lines selected from
the first four books do not suc-
ceed in creating a unified or
sust'ained thematic basis for the
production.
Several ideas are introduced
and developed to some greatr or
lesser point. But none are very
clear. Odysseus comes home, re-
jects his kingdom and takes to
the seas again after a clash
with Telemachus, who resents
him and his ways. He sails to
Sparta and rescues a very grate-
fully bored Helen. While in
Sparta he saves Meneaus -
temporarily - from a peasant
revolt.
During this action Odysseus
thinks about his relationship
with his son, about the ties of
family and kingdom, and most
of all about freedom. His lyrics
praise freedom and passion; he
is devoted to living life to the
fullest, it seems. He is the ulti-
mate rebel. Yet this mood of
triumphal affirmation is at
times clouded by uncertainty,
and he says, "I don't know what
I want - I'll have to work
things out."
His character changes without
any apparent reason. In Sparta,
the killer of men reveals that
now he loves all men for the
first time. Why? As in the case
of his apparently split personal-
ity, there is no answer.
The production is not intend-
ed to be a play, but rather a
spoken presentation of t he
poem. As such, it often tends
to move very slowly, with reci-
tation following recitation.
In their program the Play-'
ers say they are aware of the
danger that "audiences might
drown in the prolixity" of the
play's "ornamented utterance-
however magnificent." And to
an extent this happens, as the
proliferation of heightened dra-
matic recitations work aginst
each other in the audience,
and create a monotony.
At times the lyrics and dra-
matization begin to Interact, as
in the scenEs in the second act
between Helen, Menelaus and
Odysseus. Here the poetry and,
presentation work together, and
the poem comes alive.
The production is quite sim-
ple and static; it is clearly a
poem. The acting is generally
competent, although it too tends
to be simple and static on occa-
sion.
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By ELLEN FRANK
We all went on down to
Pioneer High School last night
to hear Richard Simon's famed
talk on rock and roll. Simon,
a University graduate in Amer-
ican studies, now teaches at
Western Michigan.
The occasion of Simon's offer-
ing was a meeting of the Uni-
versity Extension course, "Bridge
Over Troubled Waters," an ed-
ucation course on youth in the
1970's.
Pioneer High is very much like
an enormous prison, a maze of
long and very sterile halls with
excessively bright lights. Every
Wednesday night a group of
adults, primarily middle a g e d
parents of troubled youth (one
wouldrassume) who have come
to learn what it is' all about.
There couldn't be any better
way for them to learn than to
learn than to hear and un-
derstand the music.
Rock and roll is also, as Simon
so clearly says, the history of
the youth culture.
We find the plastic sources
of our age as Simon takes us
back to the teenage troubled
1950's. What else is there to do,
after some years of acceptance,
some years of remolding, and
now some years of rebellion, but
to fight off that mass consumer
culture that dictated the one
dimensional drippy love songs
of the 1950's?
Simon makes it clear that the
50's and most of the 60's as well!
were years when youth was di-
verted totally to the interests
of love conquests, a time when
ego humiliation or rejection
from your steady was absolute-
ly the worst that could happen.
Then comes the breakthrough1
as folk flows into rock, Bob Dy-
lan turns electric and youth be-
comes serious, turns outward.
In the midst of the 1960's we
cross into a crucial age when
purely individualistic concerns
decrease in their importance and
social and communal concerns
overcome the earlier shallow-
ness.
We come to Simon's so-called1
"Extroverted Love Song," a
lyric turning out to the world
and away from the intense con-
cern with love partnerships.
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We know this all true because
we lived through it. It is good
to see middle aged adults finally
coming, with some patience, to
hear what we have been groov-
ing to on the old AM radio for
so many years.
Simon's analytic and ironical-
ly academic methods of cate-
gorical interpretation is difficult
for the young to swallow. He
talks about words we blocked
out, sublimated as they say, and
heard instead those dominant
rhythms that were good to
dance to.
Rock and roll has a content
that can be subjected to Simon's
literal and sociological interpre-
tations. His words on the coded
messages of sex songs (like Heat
Wave by Martha and the Van-
dellas) ; violence, (the Stones'
We All Need Some One We Can
Bleed On); protest; (the Doors"
Unknown Soldier) are unques-
tionably true.
Finally listening to the words
can bring a great deal of under-
standing to adults who might
want to know the origins and
the concerns of the youth cul-
ture. But that understanding
cannot be finite because music
must be understood within its
conte-xt.-
It must be heard live, and the
voyeur seeking insight must see
what the music does to the peo-
ple. Above all, he cannot pre-
sume even if elucidating rock
and roll lectures are being given,
that the form is concluded and
ready for study.
I would suggest that adults
wishing to understand the youth
culture should attend the next
available Ann Arbor live rock
show.
The Place to Meet
INTERESTING People
B AC H CLUB
Some Puzzles
About Music"
CARL COHEN
Assoc. Dir. of Res.
College & Assoc.
Prof. of Philosophy
THURS., NOV. 5, 8 P.M.
S. QUAD W. LOUNGE
EVERYONE WELCOME
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refreshments & FUN
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"'CATCH-22' says many things
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-Joseph Morgenstern, NEWSWEEK
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LESLIE BLUESTONE, Grad.
JIM MacBRIDE, GM employee:
"The GM Strike and Student Support"
Friday, 6 P.M.-Chicken Dinner ($1.10),
for reservqtions call 662-5189
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--- -- --. .. .. .. ..
-Willis J. Spaulding
Randall Forte's Telemachus
was all quivers; he developed
no other identity, except for a
brief bit of lechery. He seemed
hardly capable of being a con-
spirator. Edward Cicciarelli as
Odysseus had only a couple of
facial expressions, despite his
magnificant voice. But the rest,
especially Chester Smith's
charming Menelaus, were quite
good.
The backdrop for much of the
program was a weird scientific-
looking projection -- perhaps a
giant slide of one-celled crea-
tures moving about. Sometimes
it simply looked like The Blob.
And the Players insisted dn us-
ing ugly tinned music which was
not necessary at all. The tone
of the piece did not require it.
At times there were flashes of
a real wisdom. Kazant2akis is
well aware of the tragedy of
Penelope, *"devoured by looms;"
Odysseus thinks her asleep as
IiIF w. U rS*UU
he steals away, but she is awake
to what she has always known.
The director's note suggests
that the dominant conflict is
between flesh and spirit. I did
not see that in this production.
This Odysseus' m a i n concern
was with "grasping the light-
ning flash," "snapping up all
the bait aild not getting hook-
ed." The deeper man barely
appears.
As an introduction to the
work - which the Players say
they hope the production will
be, -this performance may be
more than adequate. It is cer-
tainly puzzling enough, and the
humor and insight that come up
occasionally promise there must
be much more.
Certainly any attempt to in-
troduce people to the beauty of
Kazantzakis' work-which is in-
disputable-cannot be without a
great deal of value.
DO YOU 'Have Your Tickets
Yet to Hear Two of the
World's GREATEST Glee Clubs?
If not, you'd better hurry and get yours now at the
Hill Auditorium box office.
*
ENJOY YOURSELF A LITTLE. DON'T MISS
1
Nok m OW - . A > U/U
THE MICHIGAN-ILLINOIS
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Friday, November 6-8:00 P.M.*
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