Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, June 8, 1972 theatre Charley's Aunt: By JAN BENEDETTI story goes. All the jokes are ob- The 1890's comedy "Charley's vious, predictable and have been Aunt", currently being produced seen countless times before. by the University P 1 a y e r s But Robert Chapel, who has Guild, is based on the world's the difficult task of playing oldest comic situation - a man Charley's aunt, succeeds with masquerading as a woman. the part - due largely to the The plot concerns the troub- fact that he is playing out that led love lives of Jack Chesney oldest of old jokes. He does ev- and Charles Wykeham - two erything that one would ex- shallow, carefree rich, conceit- pect - uses a squeaky voice, ed college kids of the '90s. affects a wiggling walk, etc. Due to a number of compli- But this very predictability cations, Lord Fancourt Bab- creates a serious problem with berley, a friend, must dress up much of the show. "Charley's and pose as Wykeham's aunt Aunt" is a long, long play by (i.e. Charley's aunt). And so the current s ndards, filled with many secret meetings, masquer- arno~r~iiun ades, asides to the audiences, HA IRSTullnG coinsidences and long lost loves. AS YOU LIKE ITi The utter predictability of it all NEW TRENDS FOR 1972 causes the show to drag and al- TRIMS-SHAGS most grind to a halt at times. and RAZOR CUTS But the fine scenes between Dascola Barbers Babberley as Charley's aunt and two suitors almost make up for 2 SHOPS the shortcomings. 0 611 E. University 0 615 E. Liberty The pompous suitors, pom- pously portrayed by H.D. Cam- eron and Chet Smith become enmeshed in their flowery rhe- 12 s. university toric, while the ersatz aunttries A Pto dissuade their amorous ad- vances. Theatre Phone 668-6416 The production opens with several old corny college songs, This film must be seen sung by an omnipresent male from the beginning quartet, dressed in bow ties, caps and gowns. Looking like a combination of choir boys and a barbershop quartet, they sang before, during and between acts. Though they sang very well be- fore the first act, I became Heavy Reading? Double your reading speed-almost instant results GUARANTEE: D o u b I e your speed with the ssme compre- hension in three lessons or your $15 back. Call MICHAEL THORYN 761 -6683 expenenced independent instructor Oldest joke in the world afraid that this was the entire show. But the sets are the real star of the show. Designed by Rich- ard Ferguson-Wagstaffe, the sets were both luxurious and appropriate to the play-a rar- ity in local productions. A prime feature of the set in the first act was a number of two sided pictures-one side with pornographic photos of 1890's "bathing beauties" and the other side with sports pic- tures - which are switched to the more respectable side when visitors arrive. One minor problem was dis- turbing. Many of the actors seemed to have a disconcerting problem with their affected En- glish accents. An English "a" awkwardly grafted onto Mid- western accents creates some difficulty. The comedy is being offered through Saturday in Mendels- sohn Theatre. All proceeds from the show go to the Thomas Simpson Memorial Institute, a research center for blood dis- orders. X-Communication: Informal, innuovative, refreshing theatre By GLORIA JANE SMITH Does exciting, creative theatre really exist any more . . . any- where? Sometimes this campus leads me to believe not. When you peel away the professional slickness of the numerous per- formances that grace our stages each year, often all that is left is disappointment. Last night's performance of X- Communication at Conspiracy was a refreshing breath of air for the Ann Arbor theatrical environment. Whew . . . do we need it. In the style of many informal theatre groups, Theatre X be- gan their performance seated among the audience. At the sound of an ear-piercing horn, they rose to make their presence known. And from that moment on, they proved themselves far superior to the ordinary infor- mal theatre group. A collage of satire, improvi- sation and mime, X-Communica- tion carried a message of social and political criticism to its audience. No, not the usual in- sipid relevant but unartistic ex- cuse for a theatrical message, but an invigorating success at s a y i n g something meaningful through an art form. Few American ills escaped their share of ridicule from Theatre X-from an episode de- picting a crowd of people gath- ered at a rally to "Kill the Viet Cong" who offered various ex- cuses and innocent questions to an on-the-spot reporter, to an episode depicting a robot-like schoolteacher and her well-con- trolled classroom. We were made continually aware of the ability of the mute human body to communicate. Contortions, especially shown by Ric Grusczynski playing the Blob, were powerfully expres- sive. On stage roamed lions and sheep, robots and soldiers, moth- ers and children, businessmen and bums . . . all vibrantly de- picted by a controlled coordina- tion of verbal and physical ex- pression. Following t h e performance, Theatre X presented a, workshop for all interested audience mem- bers. Through various exercises, the group illustrated many of the techniques used earlier in the evening. Realization came that it just wasn't as easy as the group had often made it seem on stage. Last night's audience num- bered less than 30, a sad state of affairs for a community that is allegedly a center of cul- tural awareness. For those who demand elaborate stage decor and color-coordinated costum- ing, X-Communication would admittedly be a disappointment. But for those who are sincerely attracted to innovative theatre, the performance is a must. Theatre X is a group of twen- ty people from different back- grounds - ages 19 to 48 - who are "trying to create some- thing cooperatively." Nearly three years ago they began in the area of University of Wis- consin - Milwaukee, hoping to provide a creative alternative to university theatre. They now operate in a small (capacity 99) theatre in down- town Milwaukee - performing there and in various other loca- tions throughout the country. X-Communications will again be presented tonight at Con- spiracy, followed by a perform- ance of Macbeth on Friday and Saturday. The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students at thnetUnivnrsity of Michigan. News phone: 764-0562. Seesyd 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, $11 by manl. Summer Session published Tuesday threugh Saturday morning. Subserip- tion rates: $5.50 by carrier (campus area); $6.50 iecal mail (in Mich. or Oho); $7.50 non-local mal (other states and foreign). 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