Page Three Sunday, December 3, 1972 THE MICHIGAN DAILY DIAL 668-6414 Ma an C& the NEXT "DARLING" & "GRADUATE" Mar golds 'a strangely unmoving treatment' By JAN BENEDETTI The production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the- Moon Marigolds, brought to the Power Center by the Professional Theatre Program, is a strange- ly unmoving treatment of Paul "Marigolds" is a powerful "family" drama in the s a m e league with "The Glass Menag- erie." The title refers to a prize-win- nling science project on the com- parative growth rates of mari- gold seeds exposed for varying lengths of time to radiation. The experiment is also a metaphor for the damaged, stunted lives of Beatrice andgher daughter Ruth. The youngest daughter, Tillie, a plain, brilliant girl, has the only hope of salvation from the dreary killing life which surrounds her. The winning project and her growing determination to learn is her ticket to a brighter fu- ture. Tillie, like the marigold which was exposed to radiation for only a short time, will grow normally. The women, as Beatrice says, live a "half-life" full of smashed dreams and lies. Buried in a run-down h o u s e with newspaper covering t h e windows, she lashes out at both her daughtersina pathticbat- tempt to forget her despair and contempt for herself. Ruth, half-crazy and plagued by convulsions, "runs around the playground with her brassiere on" in her own losing battle with life. This is all very strong stuff. But the company manages to drain most of the emotion from "Marigolds". Even Ruth's con- vulsion attack is rather ho-hum. Teresa Wright as Beatrice lacks the necessary mix of hardness and defeat. Beatrice is a tri- angle of paradoxical emotions. Persecuted, nicknamed "Betty the loon" in school, she taunts Tillie for being "different." She wounds everyone around her, hin- cluding herself. But Wright only emphasizes the woman's defeat, neglecting Bea- trice's savage intensity. Robin Nolan as Ruth delivers a weak performance. Nolan's Ruth was definitely not the woman who, as Beatrice says, wears a dress that is tight enough to cut off her circulation. Helen Ross is lovely as Nanny, an old "half-corpse" that Bea- trice is nursing for $50 per week. ~Play It': Poor adaptation DOUBLE FEATUREUM "UNUSUALLY I Joan Miro displays graphi "Actress on her way to an Oscar!" --LOS ANGELES HERALD- EXAMINER "The Benjamin performance is brilliant!" NEW YORK POST By GWENDOLYN SIMS Recent graphics by J o a n Miro, now on display at the Lan- tern gallery, offer a visual ex- perience that just shouldn't be missed. Originally a Spaniard, now in his early seventies, Miro is known as a master of modern art. In his earlier days, he was consid- ered a cubist, but now he is more of a surrealist artist. He is one of the undisputed masters of the twentieth century. His works are significant to him as the fruits of a personal creative experi- ence. No greater contrast can be imagined than that w h i c h exists between the imaginative power, the passionate drive, the grim humor, and the elaborately cultivated delirium of Miro's art. What renders Miro's art parti- cularly refractory to definition is its universality of appeal and its single-mindedness of concept. The motifs are recurrently t h e same: women, birds, stars. The forms are consistently organic. Sat., Sun.-"Play", 5:40, 9:00-"Diary", 7:20 A UNIVERSAL P Mon., Tue.-"Diary", 7:20-"Play", 9:00 SHOP THURSDAY AND FRIDAY - UNTIL 9:00 P.M. - d A 8(4 "f:. {: B ( Miss J makes her entrance T(4 in dresses richly ribbed 'd' and ruffled. . .winter white holiday glamour, each with .., .. --" ; g Yruffled U-neck, ribbed top, back zip. Dacron polyester/wool in sizes 5-13 by Jonathan Logan. A. Casually chic with long sleeves, $32. B. Dramatic ankle length with halter top and belt, $40. A (4 {l }sW ...A'--A T t 09' flt ?: ldey(4 f }iij,, (4 i~j~i ;:"S: ':}(4 The colors are contrasting and relatively simple and predictable in their relationships. Primary textures, colors, images and emo- tions prevail throughout. Where- as they provide a basis for Miro's immediate appeal, they also pro- vide the basis for his general in- terpretation. Although he has passed his prime, he is still developing new printing techniques. He has con- tinued to experiment with these techniques of printmaking a n d has made an important contribu- tion to printers. The most common appraisal of Miro's art is that it is naive or primitive. Far from being a sim- plistic endeavor, Miro's art aims at the reflection of a traditional yet complex vision of existence as the artist experiences and inter- prets it in his daily life. This vision, which molds his ethic and his aesthetic, is intimately relat- ed to his character and tempera- ment. The works displayed in this show at the Lantern Gallery have been created since 1968. They are lithographs and etch- ings. "Trace Sur La Paro 2" which is an etching meaning "Drawn on the Wall," utilizes an emulsion technique where he uses a lot of freedom, arriving at a very interesting deep erosion of the plate in black color. In o t h e r portions of the print, it seems as though he has dropped some- thing on the plate to get li g h t contrasting effects. "Dormir Sous La Lune," an etching where the glue or acrylic is spread on the plate and is pressed where the impression of glue goes onto the paper and picks up texture called embossel which is combined on the plate at etched areas. In "Le Rebelle," an etching, he uses a very light soft hal of color that fades away. Thin lines are scratched into the plate and eaten with acid. In other prints such as "L Cosmonante," he also uses the embossel where the paper is pressed into the design and the design comes forward. Other works displayed are a lithograph "Agora" and "Trace Sur La Paro 1." See JOAN, Page 10 yN RAMBLE- CROWE Mon: BLOOZIANA 217SASH 2PM-2AM By LARRY LEMPERT At best, Play It As It Lays can lead you to, and perhaps can even enhance, the tight, power- ful novel from which it evolved. But on the screen, the story of a woman's failure to find meaning falls short of evoking the chilling, gut depression that arises from Joan Didion's book, even though the author and her husband pre- pared the screenplay, Depression, of course, you can pick up for a dime. Each ama- teur existentialist has a favorite way of reaffirming the lack of meaning in the universe-read- ing the newspaper is by far the cheapest. The chill you can get for an additional $1.25, the price of Didion in paperback. The visuals at $2.50 are an optional, un- necessary part of the package. The film is interesting enough, and, at worst, cannot spoil the impact of the novel. Director Frank Perry, however, presents nothing new in his film tech- nique. What he does, he does well: his work is skillful but hardly original. _ Maria, and that's Mar-eye-ah (Tuesday Weld), is the actress whose search carries her from freeway to freeway and from bed to bed. Her husband (Adam Roarke), totally wrapped up in his film-making and his public 'image, cannot grasp her despair. No one in the flashy, hip-artist jet set that composes her milieu can begin to understand, with the exception of BZ (Anthony Perkins), her husband's producer. Structurally, the film reflects Maria's state of mind with a rapid-fire, nonsequential bom- bardment of images and events. The editing offers no smooth tran- sitions to ease the task of the viewer already deprived of time sequence. Perry chops off each scene without mercy (to use a phrase of Pauline Kael, offered to describe Ken Russell's treat- ment of Savage Messiah), he "edits with a cleaver," and often accompanies the abrupt cut with a sharp noise or snap change in light level. Toward the beginning, in fact, the disjointing is paced so rapidly that the viewer can barely absorb the images, let alone identify characters or dis- cern a plot. This is intentional, of course, and it certainly keeps us on our toes. Lost, however, is the grow- ing sense of despair which Didein does communicate in her novel despite a similarly fragmented structure. The New Yorker de- scribed the movie as "visually handsome but a peculiarly pas- - sive viewing experience. The film's Maria, unlike the heroine of the book, lacks depth and motivation. The plot line, when it emerges, largely revolves t around an abortion. The film fol- lows her uneasiness in making plans, and quick shots of the operation and repeated flash- back images indicate that Maria suffers a sense of loss. t We see, but we don't feel. Didion's prose, on the other hand, draws us into Maria's mind and intricately involves us with de- tails that communicate her hor- ror as she realizes she is preg- i nant (the film states the fact of her pregnancy in a single line, entirely eliminating the buildup). t The book makes us feel her loss afterwards, with a depth of emo- tion that the movie simply can- not convey. The same lack of feeling ap- pears in the treatment of Maria's mentally retarded daughter. The dialogue is all there, although e substantially rearranged; they talk about Kate and she appears in several sequences. But Maria' s sense of attachment fails to ma- terialize. Maria's despair is faith, not shattered, but lost piece by piece along the road. Director Perry and Didion, in her screenplay, rely too much on "meaningful" facial expressions to transmit this emotion. Tuesday Weld's flower-child smile and big eyes filled with lost looks are good, but not good enough. To the film's credit, however, is the expansion of BZ's role. The producer figures prominently only toward the end of the novel, a rather sudden transformation. Didion's screenplay and Anthony Perkin's portrayal color the char- acter with cynicism and percep- tiveness, and justify more thor- oughlyrhis rapport with Maria's despair. One book reviewer praises Didion's prose for its "under- statement." Unfortunately, the Highly innovative: Players' structure By GLORIA JANE SMITH Arts Editor The experience of University Player's Showcase Production- a structure of Harold Pinter's Old Times - transcends all for- merly understood theatrical defi- nitions. We have here experi- mentation with form that is noth- ing less than exciting. It is down- right invigorating and re-affirms my long-held belief that Ann Ar- bor is indeed a culturally pro- gressive community, open to in- novation in the arts. This term, the Players have been gradually moving away from the traditional s e r i o u s drama and humorous fluff that stagnated their creative growth during former years. Their pres- entation of Samuel Beckett's Endgame showed a spark of in- novation; the structure of Old Times is a total bonfire. Director Edward Cicciarelli and his cast of six, venture into new territory, grasping for new definitions of theatre. ' Cicarelli's attempt at redefini- tion is reflected in a "new vo- cabulary" which is explained in the six-pages of notes that ac- company the program. Old Times is a superstructure (not a play); it is performed in a space (not a theatre); in the space we see structurists (not artists or ac- tors) who structure (not act). The "space" is really unde- fined. In the center of People's Ballroom, geometrically - shaped blocks, and hanging ropes and chains mark a center of action. But throughout the evening, the structurists bring themselves and their blocks out to the audien-e which is seated on the floor in a circle around this central point. Words heard on stage are spoken not only to convey their obvious meanings, but the six structurists, stripped of all but white translucent body-stockings, play with word forms, first drag- ging out the sounds, then articu- lating them rapidly, and then (as a musician improvising a melo- dy) arranging the basic sounds to form other words, other mean- ings. As one structurist explored the word DELIGHTED . . .and at one point uttered the greeting "Hi ya ted!" My appraisal of the structurists who speak the words is difficult. I have none of the reviewer's typical tools, such as characteri- zation, to fall back on. Nancy Blum, Chris Labeau, Michael Langworthy, Ann Lindke, Karen Mann, and James Tissot are ef- fective in their roles (although I'm sure that "roles" is not the correct word . . .). Their voices reach a wide range of pitches as they explore words freely, as in a very loose stream of consci- busness ... giving to the sounds alone a wide range of feelings. The structurists also exhibit physical dexterity as they climb about rope and webs which hang above the central placespace. In one "piece," the four wo- men are preched in a rope hang- ing, while the two men lie on back headrests facing the wo- men. The men say "Oh, how the ghost of you clings," after which the women sigh. The words are repeated over and over again, with a taped voice speaking for a different structuralist in each round. Taped voices, which are used throughout the evening, end the experience. Tape recorders are hung to the ropes and remain to speak to the audience long after the structuralistsnhave disap- peared. Whether or not there is fidelity to Pinter in this production is really of minor concern. With- out totally violating the play- wright's work, the Players ap- pear to go beyond content into a consideration of form. They use Pinter's words-use them to ex- plore even larger questions about language, about "acting," about the concept of theatre itself. ARTS opposite is true of Perry's film. The theme is clear enough, as stated in both versions: "I used to ask questions, and I got the answer: nothing. The answer is nothing." Perry captures the theme skill- fully in his opening shot- keep- ing its distance, the camera watches as Maria walks forward through a row of tall hedges, circles slowly around a barren garden and then returns down the row of hedges. The film retains some of the book's best passages and visual- izes some of its prominent themes. The rattlesnake flashes son, the "instantaneous peril" '(quote from the novel) that can strike anyone at any time; free- ways swirl majestically, to be travelled with no destination in mind. These are the nails; it is'for the viewer torpound them into place. The film-makers, however, too often take the hammer in hand. As if to compensate for the lack of feeling behind the characters, heavy phrases are repeated un- necessarily and a number of dialogues are inserted to make the theme more explicit. At these points, the viewer wishes that Perry could somehow have tr4ns- mitted Didion's penchant for un- derstatement to the screen. S to 0 toni ght 6:00 4 News 7 Movie "Heller in Pink Tights." (1960) 50 Star Trek 56 World Press 6:30 4 News 56 Consumer Game 7:00 2 TV 2 Reports 4 George Pierrot 9 Tom Jones 5) Lawrence Welk 56 Freshman Congressmen 1:30 2 The House without a Christmas Tree 4 World of Disney 56 International Performance 8:00 7 FBI 9 UFO 50 Emperor's New Clothes See LISTINGS, Page 10 CULTURE CLNAR MUSIC-Composer's Forum at the SM Recital Hall at 8 features the premieres of eleven new works by student composers; University Musical Society presents Handel's Messiah conducted by Donald Bryant this afternoon at 2:30, Hill Aud. DRAMA-Professional Theatre Program presents Marigolds today at 3, 8 in the Power Center; University Players present Pinter's Old Times tonight and tomorrow night at 8, People's Ballroom (502 E. Washington). POTTERY-School House Pottery Sale today 10-5 at 4991 Whitmore Lake Road. FILMS-Cinema Guild features Duvivier's Tales of Manhattan in Arch. Aud. tonight at 7; Cinema II presents Hitch- cock's Thirty-nine Steps at 7 and Psycho at 9 tonight in Aud. A; Cinema Guild features Chaplin shorts tomor- row night, 7, 9:05, Arch. Aud. Tonight & Tomorrow, 8 P.M.! THE A R Y SINGS 2n4SMASH i BLUES' HITWEEK! ED HOT m2 i I III M. T. KRM _ I I Rf.Mnnnutyj6 &. . : .