T'M drrix A t 9 M 971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five THMursIayIGUgUD ,A I LY.a g e F . art lie created 'Skul11' and it was good By CHRISTOPHER WHITMAN The Residential College is possessed of some people who are determined-at all costs, it eems-to produce plays in their ew auditorium. A serious, di- verse and sometimes brilliant crew, they have in the last year made East Quad the scene of an uncommon number and va- riety of theatrical experiences, some well-polished and compe- tent, others disappointing in their khsureness, but all of them trans- mitting the special vitality which informs and by now identifies the R.C.'s adventuresome spirit. This summer a small number of these theatrical amateurs (read that in the French sense) stayed in town, secured funding' A om the College's ever-watch- ful Representative Assembly, found various means of visible support, and instituted "R.C. Summer Theatre," a basically student-operated producing unit and repertory company which set out to stage four full-length 4ramas. The third offering, to be pre- sented tonight through Saturday, Aug. 19-21, at 8 p.m. in East Quad Auditorium, is Skull, an arresting original one-act by Barry Garelick, an R.C. senior nd major Hopwood Award win- er. The 45-minute play is a narratively conceived monologue in which an old man, Trembor, tells us, in alternate attitudes of scornful superiority, craftiness, paranoia and desperation, how he has managed to construct his life so as to defy the ultimate Void of human existence. "I couldn't wait to become old, so I became old all by myself," he boasts. "It never had a chance to catch up with me." Touting his self-made invulnerability to time and worldly care, he talks and acts us through his vast store of memories, fantasies, and philosophical calculations in a free-associational manner punc- tuated by emotional outcries and violent physical actions. Trembor, is the only actor on- stage, but other characters par- ticipate in his timeless, isolated i existence. The chief entity is the one we see first: Skull, an over- sized, grinning white - on - black death's head, posted above Trembor's stage which almost diverts our attention permanently to those insistently grim features. But the playwright is aware *of the dramatic hazard of fixing upon a stage border a visual symbol of such obvious and per- meating significance. He makes Trembor a would-be consort of skull - that is, of death, vio- lence, nothing-ness, inscrutable power. The "always old" Trem --- - -ce -- - - - -- Ge v t bo$ ° 1t 91*ee' 1~l ~ I AUSTIN D DIA OND-_ 1209 S. University 663-715S1 bor possessively reminds us of his mentor's constancy; he de- scribes the image's admirable features: he pleads for Skull's so- lace, rails at Skull's unendur- able silence. At one point he of- fers Skull tea by lashing the full cup savagely against the immo- bile countenance. Another time he frantically tosses one after another of his dozens of shoes up to Skull, gasping "Come one, catch it now! Catch it! Catch it!" finally screaming, "You MISS- ED! !" Skull is omnipresent and eternal, to be sure, but the play- wright manages to animate him and control our regarding of him via Trembor's well - wrought narration. The other character is a son whose existence Trembor de- nies. But this spectral son sends him a letter which says: "Have you ever thought of dismember- ing self? Your Son, with love." Trembor violently insists that he never had a son, but he's in- trigued momentarily with the notion of dismemberment. He toys with it, as he has done with the other ideas, fantasies and memories that haunt him: mur- der, crying voices from the te- dious world, complicity with Skull's machinations, and, most important, "keeping one small step ahead of the whole world." This is the most confounding fantasy entertained by this self- defined seeker after immortality. He would achieve it by rejecting the anxious fools of the world and becoming the beloved apostle of "Nothing - Matters" Skull. But dismemberment is not the way, any more than baseball skill, possession of lots of shoes, or nagging rationality. "Don't talk to me about dismemberment," he says. "Not for me, thank you. -I'll have tea! Tea is for the old . . . and Him." With that, he hurls the tea at Skull. The play has a good portion of comic moments, s u d d e n swerves away from the intro- spective heaviness into broad and subtle explosions of Trem- bor's, and our, seriousness. The opening lines set up the possibili- ty for further verbal and atti- tudinal paradoxes. Trembor en- ters through a distorted door, closes, knocks on it, listens, and says: "He's never there. He is always never there. As long as I am old, he is never there." Later he says: "Never use 'nev- er' in a sentence." Still later, Trembor's extended speeches sufficient variety and definition, he tells us: "I never had a girl and is especially convincing in both in voice and movement. friend or a wife. I never wanted the arbuptly energetic moments Normally, this fault could be at- them: they never wanted me. of emotional eruption. But a one- tributed to the director, but the (pause Everything is so sym- man show like this is extreme- show has none. This is unfor- metrical:" ly demanding. The unrealistic tunate, because the script is This extended description of conjunction of all the strands strong and a perceptive director the play is offered by way of which constitute Trembor's role could have enhanced it with recommendation to see this pro- calls for profound control of some hard work on McCord's duction by the "R.C. Summer body and mind and demands the Theatre. " It is unmistakably a utmost of an accompli transitions is an untrained actor, but he is promising writer. Patrick Mc- from one objective to the next. strong, determined and able to of the narrative rhythm of McCord's performance I a c k s appreciate the play's material. --- -- - - - 3arbear of Seville':* May be beginning something good By JOHN HARVITH Conditions in the United States' most prestigious (and, due to its tours and radio broadcasts, most influential) opera house, the Me- tropolitan, most closely resem- ble a living death. Analogous to an entrenched museum whose old-master paintings have begun to crack and blister due to lack of conservation, the Met contin- ues to prop up lackluster, under- rehearsed productions of the tried-and-true repetoire by cast- ing one or two stellar vocalists. The artistic futility of this pro- cess can be witnessed annually at the Met's touring perform- ances. The conductor waves his stick, singers who may have never acted together before go through the motions with due deference to the prompter, and the whole string of arias is thrown in predictably loose fa- shion. Choruses are ragged, musico-dramatic cohesion non- existent. The total uninvolvement cur- rently typical of touring operatic groups prompted -an immodest proposal in this column last win- ter: Why not placate opera-crav- ing Ann Arborites with a local company? Endless inches of cri- tical salesmanship could not have furthered this suggestion as ef- fectively as the U-M School of Music and Department of Art have done in their new produc- tion of- Rossini's Barber of $e- ville at the Mendelssohn Theater. For once, ensemble spirit was re- stored to its rightful spot as the focal point of music theater. The Barber portrays a spirited love triangle in which Count Al- maviva manages to marry the pretty Rosina through the ma- chinations of Figaro, a barber, despite the counter-efforts of Ro- sina's amorous old guardian, Dr. Bartolo. While not intending to deni- grate the produsction's outstand- ing sets, stylish costuming and well-drilled singers, this team- work - conscious critic has no hesitation in pronouncing con- ductor Josef Blatt star of the Fri- day evening performance. This may come as a surprise to those regarding conductors as human time - beaters wielding giant toothpicks. Blatt, however, strove for much more, and he achieved it. His relaxed, yet liberal ap- proach to Rossini's bubbling score allowed the singers ample opportunity for dramatic effects without sacrificing the musical line. In addition, the musical con- ception was unified, so that en- sembles built uniformly, without one member of the cast trying to outsing the other. The discreetly tailored orchestra never over- shadowed the stage action, but was always an indispensible part of the total fabric. And, as a pas- sionate protagonist of opera in English, Blatt demanded clear enunciation from his forces in Virginia Card's highly effective translation. For this reviewer, it is axio- matic that actors must take themselves seriously to achieve effective comedy, and it was in its occasional disregard of this axiom that Ralph Herbert's stage direction was slightly less im- pressive than the musical prepa- rtaion. Thus, although baritone Charles Roe (Figaro) displayed the finest diction and most pol- ished vocalism of the evening, his hammed-up acting resulted in a caricature: here was a barber so busy admiring himself he must have cut all his customers into ribbons. Likewise, soprano Lesley Manring (Rosina) pecame type-cast as a self - consciously coy prima donna who should never have been allowed to stand glued to various spots on the stage. But for gripes like these, Herbert managed the limited stage area extremely skillfully, with a fine scene of sustained movement to match the musical direction emanating from the pit. The lion's share of acting hon- ors goes to Mark Gruett for his superb characterization of the doddering, crotchety Dr. Bartolo. Gruett resisted every temptation to play Rosina's guardian as a two - dimensional character, and conveyed to the audience his conviction (backed by a mastery of basic acting skills) that he was Bartolo, not just some singer with a lot of make-up and hoaky mannerisms. That Gruett suc- ceeded in his illusion in an as- sured and unostentatious manner constituted a theatrical triumph as rare on the operatic stage as it is refreshing. With more orchestral prepara- tion and singer training in finish- ed acting a la Gruett, Messrs. Blatt, Herbert and technical lir- ector James Joy could make Ann Arbor's first resident opera com- pany a reality. 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