ARTS Saturday, November 12, 1983 The Michigan Daily Page 54. Teaching the right moves By Bill Hanson HE WANTS TO READ Chekhov. He wants to watch football. She would like to see Shakespeare performed on the stage. He would prefer going to the oval pub. She wants an education. He wants children. "She" is Rita, a street-wise hair- dresser in the new film Educating Rita: "he" is her husband, Denny, who things tot the only good wife is a pregnant one. Based on the award-winning play by illy Russell, Educating Rita is the s ry of a young woman's hunger for ed cation and her attempt to escape the Ab life of a hairdresser and the con- fining existence of a British homemaker. To begin her journey toward intellec- t il enlightenment, Rita (Julie ilters) enrolls in literature tutorials atthe Open University. She is surprised t'find that her instructor is a char- ningly disillusioned English professor whose office bookshelves hide whiskey bottles and whose cynicism masks a deep sense of failure. Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine), sick of the meaninglessness of scholarly analysis, urges his students to take less seriously the works of dead poets and to ex- perience the pleasures of life for them- selves. Inspite of this attitude, the professor helps Rita to learn and grow. Similar to Breaker Morant, or My Dinner With Andre, Educating Rita is a celebration of the spoken word. Ap- parently, rewriting successful stage plays for the screen is about the only way to get meaningful dialogue into motion picture scripts today. And although producer/director Lewis Gilbert was faithful to the original production, he also goes beyond that and makes good use of the film medium to bring the stage play to full life on the big screen." EDUCATING RITA has been billed as a comedy, but it does not yield the kind of comedy shtick that leaves an audience rolling in the aisles. It's the kind of fine-line comedy that Charlie Chaplin perfected. One wonders throughout "hmm, should I really be laughing?" One of the film's most important aspects is its treatment of the British class structure. In the beginning we see a working class that takes to book bur- ning and child production, and in the end an educated upper class reduced to sex-starved animals who have a ten- dency to attempt suicide. Julie Walters, who makes her film debut with the picture, created the role of Rita in the original stage production in London. "Brilliant" is the word that comes to mind when describing her performance. It's hard to imagine anyone else portraying the role of Rita. She's witty, charming, and as lovable as any extra-terrestrial or conservative astronaut. Michael Caine turns in his usual first- class performance as Dr. Frank Bryant. He possesses an unselfish style of acting - low key, yet convincing - that makes him one of the film in- dustry's best actors. Educating Rita is a terrific movie. It is the kind of film that doesn't get made too often these days, but one that shows the potential for good that the motion picture medium possesses. I i , t. ,) f. Professor Bryant (Michael Caine) teaches Rita (Julie Walters) more than text-book knowledge in 'Educating Rita.' Heavenly tunes from Madcat & By Joseph Kraus - A Sunday Funnies laugh every day of the week 'ci THE LION made music with the pig in the heavens. A lion? - Well actually a "cat." But not just any cat, it was Peter "Madcat" Ruth, harmonica player extraordinaire and singer. A pig? How about ham instead. Chris "Hambone" Cameron to be exact - multi-faceted keyboardist and sometime singer. Together these two have formed a band with bassist Rusty Taylor and drummer Randy Harrah that playsr blues, jazz, rock and a little bit of everything else. Originally enough, they call themselves the Madcat/Ham- bone band. The music they make is extraor- dinary. Hambone says, "About half of what we do is straight ahead Chicago Blues stuff . . . I'd be hard-pressed 'to describe the other half." Somehow the band manages to marry its blues with a danceable beat that all forms a perfect backdrop for Madcat's singing harmonica. For the most part the band perfor- med only little-known tunes. It didn't matter though. They took whatever they were playing and made it into a tapestry of sound that made you forget that time was passing. Madcat was, of course, fantastic. It is amazing that anybody can get as many sounds from a harmonica as he does. All evening he effortlessly slipped form gentle leads to all out blues riffs that demanded attention. Hambone remained unpredictable throughout the show, as he switched form one keyboard to the next between songs. Sometimes it took me a while to get used to the switghes, but once I did, I found him to have all the power and intensity of Al Kooper. Taylor and Harrah both provided By Michael Fisch A RE YOU bummed out? Did you lose your mealcard, bomb your nuclear physics test, get drafted? Well, even if those things didn't have you hitting the sack at 8 o'clock on a Friday night, you still need the Comedy Company. The all-student comedy troop's scrip- ted sketches can be called human comedy, or even intellectual comedy, but don't let that scare you. All intellec- tual comedy means is that you may be laughing too hard to see a piece of your- self hidden in a sketch. The Comedy (sponsored by UAC sin- ce 1980) has been performing its own brand of humor since 1979, although the troop was formerly known as the Sun- day Funnies. r -Liz embke, a Comedy Company producer says "If was really hard to change the name - Sunday Funnies was a tradition - but the new name makes it obvious we're a comedy troop. We wanted to rouse some interest." The name change seems to have had some positive effect because Comedy Com- pany has caught on like wildfire. The Comedy Company's November 13th Italian Buffet Dinner Theater has about ten Saturday Night Live - like sketches. Although the material is written by students (some of whom are also Comedy Company actors) the troop shies away from "University humor." All types of people are enter- tained at a Comedy Company perfor- mance. The material is not directed at college students alone - there's a good mix of material and for this reason'a lot THE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS ARE A GREAT WAY TO GET FAST RESULTS CALL 764-0557 of people can related to the sketches. Now I recommend you check out the Comedy Company at the U-Club (I know I've had minute steak at the dorm one to many times) it should be a great time. If you're funny, (or funny looking) and have a feel for comedy, you can ac- tually join the troop. If everyone is always saying "You're so funny" your. should be a comedian," the Comedy Company will give you a shot at it -d your big break. They have tryout§3 every semester. Remember, you don't have to be a theater major or have any, experience (being class clown is a fine crediential). You just have to be able to make people laugh. Earn 8 Credits This Spring in NEW HAMPSHIRE THE NEW ENGLAND LITERATURE PROGRAM i !:: 8 Madcat toots his harmonica once again, only this time with Chris 'Hambone' Cameron at Joe's Star Lounge Thursday night. MASS MEETING & SLIDE SHOW WED., NOV. 16 8 p.m. AUDITORIUM D ANGELL HALL for more information PROF. WALTER CLARK Dept. of English 761-9579 solid background and kept interesting beats. Harrah seemed to have the habit of spontaneously breaking into inspired solos that looked as if they surprised even those on stage with him. Madcat and Hambone first met six years ago during a Ken Nordine recor- ding session. Since then they have ap- peared together as session players on many different albums. The two men also have played together on stage numerous times since then. In particular they have appeared together at the Chicagofest for the last four years. The band, though, is only a part of each of their careers. Madcat is a highly respected side man and has ap- peared on 22 (by his count) different albums. Highlights include four Dave Brubeck albums, a Sky King album and two New Heavenly Blue albums. So far, he has not recorded any solo perfor- mances, but he plans to remedy that on the 25th and 26th of this month when he records his live act. Hambone, too, has had a distinguished career. He has appeared with such major names as John Mayall, Harvey Mandel, and Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows,. both on record and tour. He said that although he is proud of the things he has already accom- plished, he is most excited about "...the stuff that's unfolding now." The band, it seems, is more than the sum of. its parts. Neither Madcat nor Hambone plans to make the band a full- time project, but each gives his all while performing with it. Which brings up the final question: the heavens? The answer is obvious - it all took place at Joe's "Star" Lounge. The Madcat/Hambone band will play again this evening at Joe's starting at 9 p.m. U onnnM . AT em am mCUAWCt rrnn[rIO P Ml R I 1 INDIVIDUAL THEATRES 5th A e ot Liberry 761-9700 GIFT CERTIFICATES NOW ON SALE I HURRY! ENDS SOON ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S r1EAR WINDOW JAMES GRACE STEWART KELLY MON. 7:15, 9:25 SAT. SUN. 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:25 (PG) NON-STOP THRILLS with SEAN CONNERY in . . "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN" "nu 7I 0nn onDOLBY STEREO WVEST SIDE STORY" at .POWER CENTER NOVEMBER 10-12 at 8:00pm & NOVEMBER 13 at 2:00pm MUN. I:UJ, 7:3U SAT. SUN. 1:00, 3:30, 7:00, 9:30 (PG) AT12:00 (PG) "REAR WINDOW" "NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN" INDUSTRIAL ARTS!VOC ED...