The Fantasy Jungle ...
Come to the Pierpoint Com-
mons piano lounge tonight for
the opening reception of a
must-see art installation. 6 p.m.
michigandaily.com /arts
ARTS
FRIDAY
MARCH 30, 2001
5
U-Prod's 'Measure'
* adds excitement to
Shakespeare drear
Awful 'Say' substitutes
gross-outs for comedy
By Robyn Melamed
Daily Arts Editor
Long, long ago, in a time before the scandal of
MTV, Shakespeare was writing plays. He wrote
tragedies, comedies and his-
tories. Yet don't be fooled by
his upstanding reputation -
Shakespeare had a few scan-
Measure for dalous tricks up his sleeve.
Measure Lasf night, University Pro-
rueblood theater ductions began its first set of
Shakespeare's most contem-
through April 8 porary play, "Measure for
Measure."
Red feathered boas, black
patent leather pants, white
stiletto heals and snake-
skinned boots are not the
usual attire seen in the pro-
ductions of Shakespeare
plays. However, these items were just the begin-
ning of the unexpected, outrageousness that Uni-
versity Productions brought to the stage.
During the opening scene, it was difficult to tell
whether the audience was witnessing the work of
a genius or the work of the hottest club on cam-
pus. Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible" was
blasting into the theater while actors gyrated
across the stage. Booze, drugs and sexual acts
were happening all over the place. As this scene
continued, some of the audience members looked
as if they would have to physically keep their
mouths from hitting the floor.
Soon enough, the realization hits that this wild,
crazy place is the corrupt city of Vienna. The
Duke, a free-thinking,
long-haired, leather
jacket-wearing man,
has lost control of his
citizens. In despera-
tion, he decides to
take a short leave,
appointing a strict
man, Angelo, to take
his place.
U-Prod's "Measure Angelo plays "Let's make a d
for Measure" uses a
limited color palette of red, white and black. As a
reflection on his name and not his nature, Angelo
is dressed in white from head to toe. Angelo
wastes no time using his new power when he dis-
covers that one of the citizens, Claudio, has
impregnated his fiancee, Juliet. He condemns
Claudio to death, and does not want to negotiate
this decision.
At this point, Claudio's beautiful, chaste sister
Isabella enters the picture. This is where the story
gets even more interesting. Although Isabella is
dressed in red, a color that symbolizes passion and
seduction, she is in training to become a nun.
After hearing the news of her brother's death sen-
tence, she goes to Angelo to plead for mercy.
Angelo, taken aback by Isabella's beauty and
goodness, decides that he will release Claudio on
one condition: Isabella must have sex with him.
The excitement doesn't stop here. The rest of
the play takes several twists and turns, pressing on
moral issues and the themes of justice and mercy.
During the entire production, there was an enor-
mous amount of energy on the stage. From the
main characters to the characters with smaller
By Lesle Boxer
Daily Arts Writer
This is, hands down, the worst film I
have seen in a long time and that is a
pretty strong admonishment from
someone who has to see a lot of bad
movies. "Say It Isn't So" is the latest in
the series of gross-out movies that
began with the success of "There's
Courtesy of University Productions
deal" with Isabella in U-Prod's "Measure for Measure."
roles, the gusto never subsided. All of the actors
were completely absorbed in the play, never miss-
ing a line or a stage direction. By using great
facial expression and body language, they turned a
difficult play into something that was easily acces-
sible.
One of the highlights of the show was the char-
acter Lucio. Dressed in a patent leather get-up,
hoop earrings and black hair striped with red
streamers, Lucio was quite a sight to see. He was
portrayed as a flamboyantly homosexual male -
grabbing men's butts and thrusting his hips in
front of them. He skipped around on stage, caus-
ing havoc wherever possible, and even amused
Isabella's nun friends.
University Productions' "Measure for Measure"
is a humorous, shocking and most importantly, fun
look at Shakespeare. It will make you laugh, and
perhaps if you're old-fashioned, it might make you
cry. It will make you want to shake your booty and
check your morals at the same time. Most of all, it
will make you realize that even back in the day,
when people were talking in a foreign speech they
called "English," they were having a good time.
Say It
Isn't So
Grade: F
At Quality 16
Something
About Mary."
Many of the
films in this
genre are
extremely funny
- this film,
however, is not
funny and horri-
bly offensive, at
best.
The movie is
being marketed
as the new come-
dy from the Far-
relly brothers. In
funny moments was left devoid of
humor and just gross.
More disappointing and legitimately
offensive were the many, many attenipts
at humor involving Jo's father (Richird
Jenkins), a stroke-victim. A film shoiild
know that it is in trouble when it irty-
ing to gain laughs by dropping a man
confined to a wheelchair on his back.
Even worse is that we are supposedto
laugh at how poorly his wife treats him
and the abuse he suffers. Where this is
funny, I do not know. Furthermore, I
hope to never find out.
Another area of the film that requites
ridicule is the acting. Chris Klein, who
was great as the innocent quarterback
in "Election," proved that he may just
be a one-hit wonder. His portrayal-.of
Gilly was too dumb-witted and lacking
in comedic timing. Heather Grahim
played her standard role of an unbeliev-
ably attractive woman whom everyone
loves. Sally Field plays Jo's mother Via-
dine, an abusive wife who is consu ed
with the search for illegitimate wealth.
Field personifies white trash but she, is
annoying, never funny, and takes her
role much too seriously.
Overall, I truly feel that this movie; is
a waste of anyone's time. It is crass 4tid
stupid and leaves the audience feeling
cheated.
reality the only connection to the
comedic duo is that they produced it.
The premise of the film is that Gilly
Noble (Chris Klein), a dog-catcher in
Indiana, meets the girl of his dreams, Jo
Wingfield (Heather Graham) and they
fall madly in love - that is until they
find out that they are brother and sister.
Based solely on that premise and the
Farrelly name, you would think that the
film had potential - this was clearly
the ploy to get film-goers into the the-
ater. The secret of Jo and Gilly's rela-
tionship is revealed quite early in the
film, leaving room for many antics and
twists in the plot. The twists are pre-
dictable and are totally uninspiring -
and worse, they are not funny.
The usual elements of gross-out
comedy that have become endearing to
audiences are taken to a different level
in this film. One scene that should
evoke the same kind of all-out riotous
laughter of the famed hairdo in "There's
Something about Mary" or the chicken
up a man's butt in "Me, Myself, and
Irene," was one in which Chris Klein
gets his hand stuck in the butt of a cow.
What could have developed into many
'Inside, Outside' juxtaposes the
common with foreign landscapes
By Laura Dnoau
Daily Arts Writer
The Warren Robbins Center gallery
where the "Inside, Outside" exhibit
waits quietly from nine until five every
weekday and weekend for visitors is a
silent
where
place,
other,
Inside,
Outside
Warren Robbins Center Gallery.
Art & Architecture Building
Through March 31st
more exotic
places hang on
the walls for dis-
play.
Michael
Underwood, a
BFA senior, has
been designing
and curating the
space for over
three weeks,
building frames,
rearranging fur-
niture and
wood said.
In the exhibit's main room a window
faces the door and fills the space with
light. To the door's right is a line of
Canalettoesque shots of "foreign
places" reminiscent of post cards and
tourist mail: the Eiffel Tower's lonely
underbelly, a Colloseum girdled by a
line of tourists beneath umbrellas, A
cemetery in Prague. To the door's left
are two 4' by 3' landscapes of deserted
Ann Arbor parking structures. At the
left of the windows are three similar
European views: A Venetian canal
closed in by walls and shutters, the
arches of the Pisa cathedral, and Liber-
ty Island where the Lady looks out and
the men look up with shaded eyes. At
the right of the window are again, two
huge, deserted parking structures where
the oily concrete faces pitch blackness,
where various points of light sear out-
ward.
Moving to the left, a small opening,
between angled walls, points toward a
large picture of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza's
ceiling lined by angels that twist the eye
inward and up. Guided by this picture,
the room contracts to a small interior
space where a couch, desk, phone, ther-
mostat and shuttered window sit togeth-
er quietly like hands folded. Out the
window a projected image of the Grand
Canal floats by. Above the couch two
framed projections quietly give witness
to traffic as it moves across Florence
bridges.
"I'd like people to look at these
images as paintings," Underwood said.
"I've tried to take video and slow it
down to the pace of a painting."
Backing out of this room there is
another smaller space, tucked in the
corner where an outdoor wall covered
with siding, and an indoor wall with
floral-print wall paper juxtapose. If you
open a small heat vent on the outdoor
wall you'll find an video image of a
septic tank, as it surges and backs its
water up. The tank is Underwood's par-
ents' and the footage comes from Tren-
ton County.
These adjunct rooms give a contrast-
ing perspective of border and limit to
the larger room and places in Under-
wood's photographs that loom and
stretch beyond their framed borders.
With the interplay of these rooms then,
a visible interaction between our per-
ception of foreign, imaginary places
and the immediate world occurs and the
beauty of both comes to the surface.
"I want to provide a sense of mystery
to the room, where it feels like some-
thing isn't quite resolved. Or at least
give the sense that the game is a foot,"
Underwood said.
Underwood has been compiling the
exhibited in "Inside, Outside" for over a
year. His video footage and pho-
tographs were taken last winter during a
semester of study abroad in Florence,
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
If you make one more movie this vile,
Klein, we'll cut off your other ear!'
installing projectors, where pieces rep-
resenting over a year of his work, will
be displayed through March 31.
In itself the room doesn't get much
attention, but in conjunction with
Underwood's artwork it begins to assert
itself. The theme of the exhibit revolves
around places caught between disparate
worlds, which is highlighted by a blend-
ing of perceptions. Photographed mon-
uments, towers and ancient architecture,
all nonfunctioning though heavily visit-
ed, are paralleled by photographs of
modern wastelands: Living rooms and
parking structures people use and live
in but cast off as commonplace. Despite
their physical differences, Underwood
approaches both worlds with equal sen-
sitivity for their aesthetic, underpinned
qualities.
"If there were a narrative to this piece
it would be about a person who sits
down on his couch, looks at the wall
and dreams of a foreign place," Under-
A look at the
underside of U of M
www.universitysecrets.com
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Courtesy orfiMicnael Underwood
Lady Liberty through the lens of senior
Michael Underwood.
Italy. While traveling in Europe, Under-
wood confronted the feeling that his
room encapsulates, which is that of all
tourists who try to uncover the authen-
tic.
"The genuine always eludes you
when you travel, and the experience just
gets more complicated by these monu-
ments, which are real places when you
look at them and yet they're not."
At the Student Awards show earlier
this year, Underwood's installation won
the Robert D. Richards Memorial
Award.