ARTS Friday, December 7, 1990 The Michigan Daily Page 5 ape, retaliation taken to Extremities by Elizaeth Lenhard _ "Raul has a certain devil-may- care variety of humor, but it's not for the sake of making mirth, but to turn people around, give doubt, di- ade, manipulate and finally destroy. e... represents the men who know the law and how to beat the system. I Have observed it countless times in courts and who does not like it, don't kill me. I'm only the messen- ge. ,Raul is the rapist that writer William Mastrosimone describes in the afterward of his play Extremities performed this weekend by the RC *layers. The play's action, while in- credibly complex in its realm of in- terpretation, is simple in construc- tion. Marjorie is home alone. Raul walks into her home and attempts to rape her. A violent struggle leaves Raul blindfolded and bound in Mar- jorie's fireplace. Raul vows to have Marjorie sent to prison for commit- ting assault and battery, and & hreatens her with his violent venge. Marjorie, feeling she has no other choice, prepares to kill Raul. When her roommates arrive home, their perception of the situation dwindles from compassion for Marjorie, to horror at her actions, to fear for their own legal rights, to accusations against Marjorie for encouraging her attack. The result is defeat for all *arties involved. The play's action can be inter- preted in several ways. It is not a classic repartee between victim and villain. Andrew Inman, director of Extremities, states his opinions on the characterizations. "The movie Extremities was a sensationalistic view of rape, and the play is more about personal interac- tion." Therefore, Inman felt it was rucial to the play's success that au- diences be able to "get past the rape scene." "If the audience doesn't get past the shock of the rape scene, New troupe does fables of the reconstruction by Mike Kolody Ultra hip animal: they've got 'em. Far more vogue than Big Bird... groovier than Grover... more sensical than Superman. Yes, it's true - these animals are so keen that the Mutant Ninja Turtles seem like nothing more than silly dimwits with numchucks. "Come off that hare stuff!" screams a most emphatic rabbit, "R-A-Gimme a B. R-A-B. Gimme another B. R-A-B-B-I. What's that spell ? R-A-B-B-I-T. RABBIT! Voila! U of M Children's Theater proudly presents The Fabulous Fable Factory by Joseph Robinette: unabashedly not for adults, and certainly, then, a lot of fun. An innocent, young hero, Millicent (Elizabeth Keiser), exhibiting purity a la Little Red Riding Hood, stumbles into a rather mysterious fable machine that, as one might expect, makes up fables. Surrealistically speaking, this is Aesop's fable machine, and like the nice guy that one would expect Aesop to be, he shows Millicent how to work it - an action that leads to many a fantastic, contemporary tale which is brought to life on stage. With segments titled "The Character Conceiver" and "Pluto the Plot Plotter," the fable machine is an interesting device on its own, churning out old stories like "The Tortoise and The Hare" and "The City Mouse and The Country Mouse" in a humorously modern way. Unfortunately, there's a problem with all this fun, as the fable machine is missing a very important part: a moral maker. It just so happens that Millicent has a marvelous talent for making morals. The struggle centers around the following question: should she stay, or should she go? Created to perform for little kids like Millicent, U of M Children's Theater is a newly-formed student organization specifically designed to create drama for disadvantaged children in the Ann Arbor area. "We hope to offer children an escape from the stress of unfortunate situations such as abuse, handicaps and poverty," reads the group's statement of purpose. So far the group has performed at places like Parkridge Community Center, Motts Children's Hospital and Ronald McDonald House, and all the shows were performed for free. THE FABULOUS FABLE FACTORY will be performed this afternoon at 5 p.m. in the Arena Theater in the Frieze Building. There is no charge for admission. Bring the kiddies. Anne Genson and Anthony Bedwell rehearse the rape scene in Extremities. Proceeds for Sunday's performance will be donated to SAPAC. they will miss the rest of the play's message. They aren't going to react to it." Inman didn't make clear what he felt the "message" was, but he did add that he felt the play's flaw was that the brutality of the rape scene, which occurs at the play's begin- ning, hinders the audience from feel- ing sympathy for the rapist and dis- gust at Marjorie's retaliation. The reason for this aberration is that "the situation is unreasonable, how many times would (the victim reversing the assault) actually happen?" Perhaps fair and equal represen- tation was Inman's intention. The result, however, favors the rapist by giving him an "out" of insanity. "Raul is aberrant, fictionalized, deranged. You can excuse anything he does because mentally, he's out of it," Inman said, adding that he views Marjorie's increasingly des- perate and violent behavior as "Raul bringing himself out in Marjorie." But in the face of Raul's assault, verbal harassment and threats, Mar- jorie's response seems logical. In- man infers that he believes when Marjorie adopts Raul's terrorist tac- tics, she is herself becoming a rapist. Anne Genson's performance as Marjorie is not an echo of Anthony Bedwell's hyperactive dramatics as Raul. Rather, Genson realistically depicts the feelings of a woman who feels she is left no other choice than to counteract the rapist's attack in her own self- defense. She feels she is trapped, literally, as illustrated when Marjorie backs herself into a See EXTREMITIES, Page 7 /f/i I .e . Apo 1 u ¢ owe i . A . "" n to NAIL SALON Relaxers Haircuts Spiral Perms Full Nail Service Wave Nouveau Custom Hairstyling 312 Thompson St. (near corner of Liberty) 995-5733 p I *h GRAND OPENING -O d Great Selection CHOOSE and CUT your own CHRISTMAS TREE Hillside Farm 4714 US-12 Tipton, MI (4 miles west of M-52) Open Weekends (313) 274-0681 Scotch Pine Grand Opening Spcal Present this ad an receive C $2.00 OFF REGULAR PRICE (reg. $18-$24) one tree per coupon ' f1 *!««««««««««M« «N««FM«f«« « ff«i«ff«. Sp 5 PI M Car I - f Saary $upplement available December 10 at the Student Publications Bldg. Tickets: $2.00 Avail, at Union Tkt. 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