The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 20, 1996 - 9
*Ibsen's mysterious 'Ghosts' arrives at Mendelssohn |r
By Angela Walker
aily Arts Writer
--he University's department of theater and drama
wilf haunt Lydia Mendelssohn Theater this weekend
with its presentation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play,
"Ghosts.' Ibsen is famous for his portrayal of every-
,4y_ people with real-life problems, and although
will be no literal ghosts on the stage, this trag-
ay is sure to leave the audience spooked.
-"Ghosts" consists of only five characters, but it
des strong reference to two others who are
_iaien into the plot but never appear before the
Ience. It is about cutting through webs of denial
n7 dishonesty in order to untangle the past.
The story centers on the return of a talented
artist, Osvald Alving, to his mother's house after
amny years of work and study in Paris. Osvald's
mriyal coincides with the preparations for a dedi-
on ceremony that is to be given the following
day in memory of his deceased father. Pastor
Manders has stopped by to go over the details of the
ceremony with Mrs. Alving, but their conversation
quickly leads far beyond that. The story escalates
quickly, and every line proves its importance as the
plot becomes known.
The play's director, Philip
Kerr, is a professor in the PRI
department of theater and
drama. He has a great deal of
experience with Ibsen. T
"'Ghosts' is a play in which at t
the past forms the future. It is
a BIG play without answers,"
Kerr said.
Just as "Oedipus Rex" is a detective story of
sorts, "Ghosts" leaves its audience to unravel the
mysteries of the past. Kerr called "Ghosts" a "dan-
gerous" play in that it raises more questions than it
m
E
hu
he
St
answers. "No one is let off the hook in the story; it
is a play of enlightenment."
Kerr compared "Ghosts" to Greek tragedy and
the classic story of "Oedipus Rex." "It is a play that
draws our attention to some aspect of the human
condition - insight leads to
revelation which leads to
VIE W downfall," Kerr said.
Ibsen's plays are not about
Ghosts royalty or fantasy; rather, they
rsday through Sunday are about the lives and strug-
Mendelssohn Theater. gles of ordinary people. Ibsen
tudent tickets are $7. wrote about things that he
himself had experienced, and
as he strove to bring the moral and social issues of
his time to the stage he was met by brutal opposition.
"Ghosts" created a great uproar in Europe when it
was first performed and this was mostly because it
defaced the governing voice of society at that time.
One of the reasons Kerr is drawn to Ibsen is the
crispness of his writing. "It is so clear, so econom-
ical in the themes that it is dealing with. It is decep-
tively simple, which makes it all the more appeal-
ing to an audience;' Kerr said.
Kerr has chosen to use an "American-language"
version of the play, rather than the original, in his
presentation. The translation is written by Gerry
Bamman and Irene B. Berman and, according to
Kerr, it is very true to the original text (the only dif-
ference being that it is an American, as opposed to
British, version).
To quote the text: "I rather believe that we're all
ghosts. It's not just what we have inherited from our
fathers and mothers that walks again in us. There
are all kinds of dead opinions and dead beliefs and
things like that.... There are ghost throughout the
land. Like sand at the beach there are so many. And
they scare us to death"
Sophina S. Brown, Jenny R. Burleson
and Mark Alhadeff star in "Ghosts,"
which runs through Sunday.
...
UK's Mani
Ii xWhilip Son
':r the Daily
last year, Trent Reznor and his Nine
hiih Nails opened up for David Bowie
stpart of his American "Outsiders"
Wour. Now, turn back the clock to the
year 1989, when Nine Inch Nails
opened up for another act. This time, it
was for Meat Beat Manifesto.
As a mainstay in the electronic dance
iriusic scene for
he better part of
eight years, Meat PR
Beat Manifesto RI
remains under
the creative con-
ol of Jack Thursday at St.
Call (313) 963-ME
ma ngers.
Dangers has
stablished himself as a premier remix-
2orand producer, as well as an influential
aftist in his own right.
From its 1988 debut, "Storm the
Studio," to its latest4 double album,
"Subliminal Sandwich," Meat Beat
Manifesto has combined samples and
"rap with an eclectic blend of break-beat,
chno, trance, dub and jungle to pro-
duce heart-stomping, bass-booming
-,,tonds. At a time when electronic
dance music is finally gaining recogni-
Iion in America, Dangers continues to
Influence his peers and satisfy fans with
his first tour in four years.
Dangers and his first permanent
installment of Meat Beat Manifesto
festo finally gains fame in America
(consisting of keyboardist Mike Powell,
drummer Lynn Farmer and guitarist
John Wilson) have been on tour since
May.
They joined Perry Farrell's Enit
Festival during the summer after having
played the Organic Fest. This hugely
successful one-off rave in California
featured other
Underworld,
EVIEW
Meat Beat
Manifesto
Andrew's Hall at 8 p.m.
ELT for more information.
notable acts like
Orbital, Chemical
Brothers, Orb and
Loop Guru. Now,
Dangers is head-
lining with D.J.
Alex Patterson
(of the Orb), who
is supporting on
this two-week
American stint.
direction in electronic dance music. The
group has brought electronic dance
music to the forefront, especially in
Europe, due to one of its B-sides,
"Radio Babylon." Prodigy's "Charly"
and Future Sound_
of London's
"Papua New
Guinea" directly r
sampled the beats
off "Radio
Babylon." As a
result, each song
has become these
respective acts'
biggest commer-
cial hits.
But Dangers
doesn't acknowl- :
edge any state-
ment of his influ-
ence on others of John Wilson and Ja
today's music of Meat Beat Mani
scene. "For me, I _
can't do that. I can't separate it. I did it.
I knew how it was done, who was
around when it was being done and all
this stuff. All that sort of amounted to
one after 10 years, and you can't stand
back and look at it at all," he said.
If anything can be surmised from
these statements, it is that Dangers
doesn't treat music as a business in any
way. His newest album has been
licensed by Trent Reznor's record label
in America and this mutual respect
between Reznor and Dangers has
resulted into a fruitful relationship. "I
came off of Mute (Records) last year
and wanted to work with a label who
really knew their music ... and their
label knows
music." In fact,
Dangers has
remixed NIN's
"Closer" and has
just remixed their
s o on - t o - b e -
released single,
"The Perfect
Drug."
"I'm a happily
demented man
living in my own
little world, doing
something I
always wanted to
Dangers are part do, and pinching
stto- myself every five
minutes because
I'm still doing it and loving every sec-
ond of it," Dangers said.
And if he's pinching himself every
five minutes, then lucky fans should
pinch themselves every five seconds.
Community
Learning
,;
J ..
s;: arvf t.
'i ;
i . a
S.'
14t". 'ta
"You get a good production when
you're doing a festival. There's people
running around all over the place. If
there's a problem, you know it's going
to get sorted where you wouldn't neces-
sarily get that in a small club;' Dangers
said in an interview with The Michigan
Daily. "They're all different. I get ner-
vous at all of them whether it's a big
festival or a tiny little gig."
Nervous or not, Meat Beat Manifesto
manages to captivate listeners with non-
stop grooves - no encores, no breaks,
just an intensity led by Dangers.
With its intense live shows and influ-
ential studio albums, Meat Beat
Manifesto has bravely pioneered a new
ENROLL IN PROJECT COMMUNITY
Sociology 389
Areas of service-learning include:
*Criminal justice
*Education
*Health and Special Populations
*Teaching Creative Writing in Prisons
*Women's Issues
Interested? Stop by 2205 Michigan Union (8-5, M-F)
beginning 11 /18 for more information on meeting
times for seminars and sites.
763-3548
ack
fes
*SHEPHERD
Continued from Page 8
..I delete all those messages."
For now and until Thanksgiving,
Shepherd is performing on tour when
he's not erasing his answering machine
messages. Unbothered by any pressing
family concerns, like some older mem-
ters of his crew, Shepherd said he is
able to concentrate on the matters at
*apd while touring.
"Touring is a lot of hard work. That's
:where it's at: Playing in front of the
people. Seeing the world and playing
for your fans," he said, adding that after
Thanksgiving he'll be hanging up his
read gear for a while as he writes and
records his next album.
Having graduated from high school
already, Shepherd said he's enjoying his
success and is in no rush to head off to
college. "I'm totally prepared to go to
*ollege if I have to. But I'd rather not.
1'd rather do this. I think education is
really important, don't get me wrong.
But just as far as what I'm doing, I have
a, once-in-a-lifetime chance right now."
For now, Shepherd will continue his
,tour, exposing fans around the country
to his soulful strumming and his
lreathy vocals on "Riverside," fitting
in with the laid-back spirit of the Bob
*)ylan tour.
"It's not the wildest tour we've ever
been on," Shepherd said, adding that
.though they don't play together on
stgge, he's talked to Dylan a few times
behind the scenes.
"He's a pretty cool guy," Shepherd
said. "He comes up to me and talks to
me. He doesn't really say much, you
know what I'm sayin'? He'll see me
standing over somewhere and he'll
come up to me and say hi, barely shake
@ny hand, you know, mumble a few
other things.and then he'll go play."
Thanks...
to the Substance Abuse Education Network most especiallv:
Office ofthe Vice President ror
Student Affairs
Office ofGreek Cit*
Panhellenic Association
1ntertratern/ty Council
Student Athlete Support
faculty and Staff assistance Prod.
Division of flousina
Lesbian. Cay. Bisexual Prod. Office
Department of Public Safety
Office of Affirmative Action
Univesityfealrh Service
as wvell as:
Alcohol-Other Drua Peer Educators
.(1. State Afedical Society Alliance
'Peer (entorship Program
'Proect Serve
UClub
I "lveek" "
1990
es
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