Poge Four

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Saturday, August 16, 1975


PoeFuH:MCIAALYStraAuut1,17

A SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS:
ommedia'is old but

By JEFF RISTINE
In a welcome attempt to bring
theater-goers fresh styles of
humor, Roadside Attractions, a
Michigan-based acting company,
has boldly - and successfully -
employed ideas and techniques
unfamiliar to the standard audi-
ence. One recent presentation,
"Feiffer in the Flesh," brought
newspaper cartoons to hilarious
life. Stage combat, mime and
clowning also appear in their
work. Now, the group has adopt-
ed the 17th century art form,
commedia, from the Italian
Rennaissance and the product
is a thoroughly enjoyable play
entitled The Servant of Two
Masters.
-The play's convoluted plot,
which involves two pairs of
young lovers and their troubles
on the road to matrimony, is
nearly overshadowed by the
commedia method itself. Cer-
tain stock characters, wearing
colorful, half-face masques, ap-
peared in all commedia presen-

tations, with the same actor or
actress always playing the same
role. The script allows plenty
of room for improvisation and,
at times, a character will di-
rectly address the audience.
A DELIGHTFUL rapport with
the audience, in fact, is main-
tained throughout "Servant,"
beginning when the puckish,
barefoot Truffaldino (played by
Curtis Armstrong) prances his
way on stage and then asks,
eagerly, "P r e t ty flashy en-
trance, eh?" Truffaldino clearly
steals the show in his title role
as he tries to earn a few extra
dollars by offering to run er-
rands for two masters instead
of just one.
His double role, however,
nearly ruins the love lives of
four innocent characters: Bea-
trice (Margaret Heinze), who is
disguised as her dead brother
in a move to reach the man she
1 o v e s; the beautiful Clarice
(Kathryn Sanders), betrothed
against her wishes to the man

Beatrice impersonates; Silvio
(Pedro Silva), the hot-tempered
object of Clarice's affections;
and Florindo (Folkert Schmidt),
who loves Beatrice. The seem-
ingly endless mixups are not
resolved until the play's final
moments, w h e n Truffaldino's
impish scheming nets him a
marriage partner as well.
Adding to the confusion are
Pantalone (Jerry Bennett), the
tightwad f a t h e r of Clarice;
Brighante (Beverly Hainault),
a loud-mouthed, classic Italian
momma; Brighella (Harlan Mo-
yer), an oafish foil for Truffal-
dino; and Smeraldina (Barbara
Bercu), the hyperactive, scan-
tily-clad maidservant who calls
men in the audience "peegs"
during a rousing speech for sis-
terhood.
OTHER deliberate anachron-
isms creep their way into Carlo
Goldoni's 1734 script. When
Beatrice peeks at a letter ad-
dressed to someone else, Truf-
faldino objects, asking, "Who

do you think you are, the CIA?"
Later, one character leavAs an-
other after promising to "meet
you at Pizza Bob's."
The company goes far off the
traditional road in an alt-out
effort to entertain, and the audi-
ence loves every moment. Two
silent zanni (comic servants)
perform throughout the inter-
mission and the cast provides
its own music-with kazoos. A
f e w of their unconventional
techniques, however, are some-
what distracting; for example,
the characters not appearing in
any given scene sit off to the
side, in plain view, and laugh,
wince or mug to lines as :f
they had never heard them.
The overall effect of com-
media, nevertheless, is a re-
freshing change from standard
theater fare. The story line is
absurd, the masques (especially
Pantalone's full - face masque)
are fine pieces of art in them-
selves and the company works
quite well as a group-the char-

Funny
acters jump and fall all over
each other in playful insanity.
Roadside Attractions, in fact,
calls itself a non-profit organi-
zation performing "as a public
service. Their show, which
runs through Sunday night at
the Frieze Building's Arena
Theater, is excellent testimony
to that claim, and is not so
much a play as a zany circus
act. You'll adjust very quickly
to this entertaining art form
from another age and culture.
Joan Little
a cquitted
(Continued from Page 1)
Hobgood said he felt Paul,
who calls himself a "new abol-
itionist," had been trying to get
a contempt citation to win a
mistrial. He said the contempt
was virtually continuous
throughout the 25 day trial, and
cited an instance when Paul
openly compared him to the
Queen in Alice in Wonderland-
"the law is the law and off with
their heads."
"THERE'S nothing personal
between us, you understand,"
Hobgood beamed. Paul, saying
the sentence was "not a dis-
honor, but an advantage of hon-
or," began serving his time a
few hours after losing an appeal
to another judge. ,
Alligood's 62-year-old widow,
Elsie contacted at Washington,
N.C., said: "I might think of a
lot of things, but I don't want
to say nothing. We all have feel-
ins, ad that's all I can
Bat later in the day.Mr.
See JURY, Page 9


What Will YOU Be Doing Between
September 3, 1975 and April 28, 1976?
If you are like 38,000 other students at the University of Michi-
gan you will be studying, sleeping, partying and some of the
times just taking it easy. For that time make University Towers
your home. We've designed our building and apartments with
you in mind. Completely furnished apartments, weekly maid
service, a full time maintenance staff, study room, recreation
room, laundry facilities, vending
machines, color TV lounge, se-
curity guard and free, recent-re-
lease movies and parties all add
to the complete living environ-
ment for the student. Our stand-
ard 8 month single liability lease
relieves subletting since you're
only responsible for your portion
of the rent if your roommates
leave school. If you don't have a
roommate our roommate place-
ment service will find one for
you. We are now renting for Fall
Semester, so please stop by our
model apartment today.
536 S. Forest Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 Phone (313) 761-2680


ADVERTISING
IN THE
MICHIGAN
DAILY'
DOESN'T
COST ...
IT
PAYS
I
YOU'RE
READING
THIS,
AREN'T
YOU
764-0554