The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, October 14, 1993 -3 Rogues Trial'promises outrageous three-ring circus fun By ROBIN BARRY It's payback time and here comes John Cricket. This is not your typical prankster - this is John Cricket, the ultimate con-man, and the main character in Ariano Suassuno's play, "The Rogues' Trial." In this crazy comedy Suassuno uses this character and others to satirize religion, wealth and human frailties. This clever con-artist has got some serious scores to settle. Along with his sidekick, Chico, he is setting out to get revenge on those who have wronged him. These individuals include his negligent, insensitive employers, the money-hungry members of the local clergy and any- one else who happens to get in his way. John knows everyone's weaknesses, and all the good angles. All he is going to do is dangle the right worm, and his enemies will follow their own petty greed and obsessions to their demise. Unfortunately, even the best plans can go astray, and even this mastermind can't foresee everything. On the verge of complete success, one seemingly insignificant miscalculation leads to John's undoing. Suddenly, he finds himself face to face with his most distinguished opponent: the Devil. Now let's see if he can talk his way out of an after-life in hell. "The Rogues' Trial" has been chosen by University Productions as this season's opening presentation. It's a Brazilian comedy which can be compared to anything from a visit to the circus to a modern British Miracle Play. The playwright describes the opening of the play as if it were a scene taking place in a three-ring circus. The actors bound out onto the stage with all the energy and hoopla of the Big Top, and naturally, the play is narrated by a clown. In this outrageously comical and dynamic atmosphere, Suassuno playfully explores the modern obsession with material wealth. He probes various human shortcomings in a light hearted and hilarious manner. The end product is a fast-paced, anything-goes kind of comedy. The University's presentation of "The Rogues Trial," which is directed by Jerald Schweibert, promises to be just as lively as the script's portrayal. Melinda Teter, the assistant director, and a grad student here at U of M compared the production to "going to the roller-skating rink when you were in seventh grade, with all the lights and the movement, someone falls, another person gets up." Schweibert described various special effects such as elaborate lighting, balls of fire and fog. He also said the production was very physical and ensured a "circus-like atmosphere ... it should be quite a show." Schweibert said he chose to direct this piece because of the kind of acting involved. "It's different fromstraight realism," he remarked. "The sense of truth is expanded. It is a good exercise and experience for the actors." He also described it as a good experience for the audience. "This play is a Brazilian piece, which is not something you get to see that often." Despite its foreign culture, the quick wit and tongue-in-cheek humor of "The Rogues' Trial" has a universal appeal, and as Schweibert said, "It's a comedy which everyone can relate to and enjoy." I UES'TRIAL will be presented October 14- 16 and 21-23 at 8p.m., and the October 17 and 24 at 2 p.m. at the Trueblood Theater. General admission tickets are $10 ($6 students). Call 764-0450. The U Players open the season with "The Rogues'Trial," a contemporary Brazilian farce by Ariano Suassuno. App ~)fij~x osx eole A p After tbeDaily came outlast week, About five or sixpeopletold me, "Hey, ead your column." Of course, two were the Weekend editors, one was aoother Daily editor, one was my roommate and I myself was one of them - but I couldn't understand what I was saying at first because I lying to medical school: When life hands you a lemon ... had food in my mouth (not to mention smeared all over my face and body). It comes as no surprise to me that unless I force them, even my friends don't read this stuff - and I'm not offended. In fact, it's given me a great idea. I'm going to use this space as a kind of secret, private journal. I can even rip to shreds all the jerks I know and this is thlaM b"We ahey,' ever see it! So, today's journal topic is going ta-be my day at a med school inter- view.,. larrived at the admissions office at #:00 a.m. The first of the day's events was the presentation by the Dean of Admissions. There were six interviewees altogether, and we were all on our best behavior, crowded around the polished conference room table in the Admissions Conference Room. We were making our first foray into the world of office and responsi- bility, and each sat carefully upright and intent on the face of the Dean, whohadentered with an executioner's remorseful calm, as if to say, "It's too bad I will have to kill most of you." He plopped himself down in a business-like manner and in an in- stant an uncivilized blood-lust ex- ploded on the features of his well- groomed face. Squinting at us menac- ingly, he said in along southern drawl, "Now listen here, lackeys. Some a you are gonna get in here, but not if I can help it. My tastes are what you might call fine, because they can af- ford to be. I got every little pre-med puppy from coast to coast squealing at my ivy covered gates. "The rarer the better. I accepted a kidthe o qterday whohadn'taen the MCAT, flunked out of school, was legally blind and didn't even apply here -in fact he was suffering from syphilis-related schizophrenia and only had three weeks to live, God rest his soul. But you know what that boy did? He ran up to me and put scratch and sniff stickers all over my head, the rascal. He was the only boy that ever made a statement like that and that's what I'm looking for. I'm look- ing for diversity. I want the type of a class that when it's put together you can stand back and say, 'Now look at that goddamn messed up freak show.' "Let's put it this way, when I got 700 interviewee files to go through, it's 4 a.m. the night before I have to turn in my acceptances, I'm drunk out of my skull and dancing around my apartment nude with my 3-D glasses on and the calypso sounds of Harry Belafonte roaring in my ears, you better have something like a wake-up call in your application -something that sets you apart." The dean, who was slavering heavily on the table at this point, regained his composure. "Best of luck to you, now - dickheads." My interview was next. I was ex- tremely anxious. The interviewer asked me why I wanted to be a doctor, and I told him: in order to demnytify- and defy illness, using the intellective organization of phenomena to enable life-preservative action. Actually I forgot to tell him that. Instead I could only manage to stammer, jumping awkwardly out ofmy chair and knock- ing a lamp over, "Whoot! There it is! Whoot! There it is!" At noon, we ate lunch in the Sur- gical Intensive Care Unit. Some of the patients were really nice. I almost picked up a girl. So what if she was semi-conscious and nauseated - she had a great personality. As I left, I tried to kiss her, reaching tenderly for her neck, accidentally blocking her stoma, choking her. It was a rough day. The day was an instantiation (I'm getting to like the word 'instantiation' -- instance as a symbolic incarnation of the general, or something) of the general charac- teristics of my life: futility, neglect, lack of respect from my peers and superiors, failure to score, bad gas, major lacerations on the nose and eyes, etc. As I reflected back on the day, staring into my cup of tea, I thought back to the words of the guy from Harvard who had his interview before mine. Pausing for a moment as he stormed down the channel of entitled privilege, energized by his own un- hampered competence, he spared me this: "Oh little man, perhaps there is room yet for you too in this land of giants." I hugged his knee and cried thankfully as he shook his leg in a desperate effort to free himself. But before succumbing to total despair, I remembered, looking up toward the last strains of light filter- Write for Weekend etc. Call 763.0379J ing through the urine-stained, par- tially burned curtains of my scummy apartment window, what my grandma always used to say - "When life hands you a lemon, rip life's head off and shit down its throat." Oh, Grandma, my, my. I . :. i . z . _ , AC tE nA E as. t , At the Timberland@ Shop, You'll find the world's finest collection of weatherproof boots, shoes, clothing and accessories crafted to protect you from all that Mother Nature has to offer. So before you venture into the gnat ttanc-is- izit mirT m herla~nd S hn THE WONDERSTUFF GRETA NO B N FEATUING IS.it WA'TYOUjWANTED LOVEIS OFAD 11.99 CD 7.99 CS c T I St -- 11.99 CD 7.99 CS 11.99 CD 7.99 CS JBERRIES I T I 11.99 CD 7.99 CS REw TN OK I 11.99 CD 7.99 CS 11.99 CD 7.99 CS ROKE FOMTH CYP -ww I!v w so I ilkSOI F ............ . I i 11 i I II I liii pItI!LUhI~ItIII'SIlITE.FiIhi u