The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, October 15, 2010 - 5A Arthur Miller Theatre hosting a theatrical Babel John Lennon's teenage biopic 'Pentecost' explores and breaks down language barriers By PROMA KHOSLA Daily Arts Writer "You have taught oh-so much; much more of you than you will ever take the pains to learn of us," says Yas- min, a char- acter in the Department Through Oct.17, of Theatre Thurs. at7:30 p.m., & Drama's Fri. and Sat. first produc- at 8p.m., tion of the Sun at2 p.m. year, "Pen- Arthur Miller Theatre tecost." Yas- Ticketsfrom $10 min's words challenge the Western world to imagine other nationalities in all of their complexities instead of disregard- ing them as names on a map. This idea pervades the production, which features extended dialogue in Arabic, Bulgarian, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Azari and Sinha- lese. "One of the themes of the play is the Tower of Babel," said Music, Theatre & Dance junior Emily Berman, who plays Gabriella Pecs. "You have all these char- acters on stage speaking differ- ent languages that the audience doesn't necessarily understand, but it's constructed such that the audience is given the informa- tion they need in English. It's this beautiful story about people who are very different ... meeting in a place and connecting on the level that humans are all the same in some ways. It's very universal in that way and it's been fun explor- ing that." Berman's character finds a painting in an abandoned church in the 1990s that might bridge the gap between the Renaissance and Medieval periods of art history. As characters meet and interact in the church, they must confront personal attitudes toward art his- tory, politics, religion and each other's cultures in war-torn East- ern Europe. "The way this play works is that it really gives you interest in what exactly these people are saying and what is going on. As the audi-. ence learns about these charac- ters, the characters are learning about each other," Berman said. David Edgar, the playwright who penned "Pentecost," met with the cast and crew last spring and explained that audiences do not need any prior understanding of European and Middle Eastern languages to see the play. Though all vital information is delivered in English, the linguistic cacoph- ony prompts audiences to pay special attention to gestures and emotion, thereby overcoming the language barrier the same way the characters do. "It gets to a point where it doesn't matter what language they're speaking. Because of the way they're physically expressing themselves and the connection between the group as a whole, the language barrier kind of dis- appears and you're able to under- stand," said MT&D senior Joey Richter, who plays Oliver. To prepare the cast and crew, Director and MT&D professor Malcolm Tulip, along with MT&D senior Matthew Bouse, (the dra- maturgist or reasearcher for the play), gave the class some home- work: The two set up a CTools site that included information about wars in Europe and images of Giotto di Bondone's artwork, a central subject in the show. "There's been a lot of back- ground work on everybody's part," said MT&D sophomore Allison Brown, who plays Yas- min. "We've all worked really hard on dialects and getting accents down. We had our lines said for us on the CTools site. My character is Arabic and needs to sound Arabic, without a doubt. You do, absolutely, have to have an understanding for it or else the words would be meaning- less." Tulip made sure his production team was completely immersed in the time period and culture of Edgar's piece in order to best con- nect with the story. "The dialogue between Mal- colm and the cast was so stimu- lating," said stage manager and MT&D junior, Rachael Albert. "They talked at length about the meaning of different sections and oftentimes the final realization was one that neither party had originally thought." "We spent days in those initial rehearsals not even getting up on our feet but watching videos of different cultures and the way that they danced or the way they spoke. The show is about the per- ception of people," Richter said. "Pentecost" challenged per- ceptions of diversity and oneness- behind the scenes as well. "Costuming the refugees was a unique challenge to this play," said costume designer Corey Lubowich, and MT&D senior. "While the group is very diverse and come from different coun- tries, it was important that they were all wearing clothes and not costumes. They aren't wearing traditional ethnic clothing, but real clothes (with clear influence from the west)." Lubowich's designs and the set created by MT&D senior Margue- rite Woodward mirror Edgar's notion that cultural differences are often just external. In an unnamed country in continent ravaged by conflict, Edgar's play emphasizes human connections. "The most amazing thing about 'Pentecost' ... was the theme of universality of different cultures, races, and religions across the world," Albert added. "Stories have common themes and mes- sages world wide, and despite the language barrier, everyone was able to somehow understand each other." By ANDREW LAPIN Senior ArtsEditor John Lennon has been scru- tinized and dissected not only more than any other member of the Beatles, but perhaps more N than any other NoWhere figure in pop cul- Boy ture. And why shouldn't he be? At the His cosmic, free- Michigan wheeling perso- Weinstein na is the gift that Company keeps on giving, even 30 years after his death. Len- non's stature as poet, prophet and revolutionary casts a long, dark shadow over pretty much every- thing that happened in rock music since 1960. Perhaps it's a testament to the impenetrability of Lennon's legend that his life has avoided the dreaded "biopic treatment" for so long (TV movies notwithstanding), though we have been subjected to several documentaries on the man as well as - nauseatingly - two films about his murderer. But now here is Sam Taylor-Wood's "Nowhere Boy," a dramatization of Lennon's early years that tragically never gets around to answering why it needed to exist in the first.place. Aaron Johnson ("Kick-Ass") plays the teen as a troublemak- ing smart-ass, a Cockney prank- ster who, when asked to say "a few words" at a party, rattles off a string of profanities. His brash- ness is the best thing about the movie. Seeing Lennon unfiltered and raw like this instead of as pop music's holy-man savior is quite refreshing, considering Johnson's portrayal is likely the closest thing we'll get to the truth. Lennon's pre- rogative was always "goof off first, play music second." His "Nowhere Boy" self's chief concern isn't to. imagine there's no heaven; it's to keep his guardian aunt from find- ing out he skipped schooh But the hyperlocal scope of the film wears thin quickly. Rarely does "Nowhere Boy" move its hero beyond the three-block radi- us that contains his aunt's house (where he lives) and his mother's (where he frequents, trying to fig- ure out where she's been all his life). For her part, Julia Lennon (Anne-Marie Duff, "The Last Sta- tion") is an emotionally unstable woman who showers her son with borderline Oedipal love upon his discovery of her close proximity. The relationship between her and her sister (Kristin Scott Thomas, "Gosford Park") is in many ways the crux of whatever emotional point the film is trying to make, but their interactions are mostly sidelined until the third act, at which point the plodding dra- matic structure somehow turns a real-life tragic event into a deux ex machina. Meanwhile, the segments in which Lennon scrapes together his first musical group should be loads of.fun, but only achieve mild success. Yes it's cool to see The Quarrymen start to make a dent Portrait of the icon's youth goes 'Nowhere' fast. in the scene as Liverpool's hip- pest garage band, but we don't get enough of a look at the bandmates or their performances to feel like we've witnessed an often-over- looked portion of Lennon's life. Thanks to a lack of chemistry, his budding friendship with a young Paul McCartney (Thomas Sang- ster, "Bright Star") feels, of all things, forced. And the obligatory "this is George" scene serves no purpose other than to wink at the camera. Despite the movie's short- comings, Taylor-Wood and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh ("Control") should be applauded for even daring to tackle such a narrowly focused depiction of the music world's most sacred cow. But if we've learned anything from Lennon, it's that you can't expect a half-hearted attempt to gain success just because no one was brave enough to try it before. Say what you will about Julie Tay- mor's "Across the Universe," but at least it had the guts to commit to a wholly unique approach to the Beatles. By comparison, "Nowhere Boy" is the music-biopic equiva- lent of the "Star Wars" prequels: an unnecessary origin story for a cultural icon. T LC's Auctioneer$' is an antique show on d rugs. By LINDSAY HURD Daily Arts Writer With the uncalled-for dollar sign in the name, "Auctioneer$" has clearly ele- vated the tacky factor of TLC's reality show Auctionee 9 lineup to an all- yoga pants and bright red lip- stick. Finally, the man who was trying to sell his Tiger Woods golf ball found out the ball was a fake and completely lost it, flip- ping off the camera and swearing up a storm - totally uncalled for, yet typical of reality TV drama. These people were dying to get on TV somehow and "Auction- time h highlig a fak Woods and an house, stimul This tries t "Antiq by tak at Ph apprai Tr a] do igh. With Saturdays eer$" was their way to do it - ghts like at10 p.m. even if they did have to purchase ke Tiger TLC some junk along the way. golf ball And the show needed some ugly doll- endearing characters to redeem the thrill factor is less than it from the depravity of its con- sting to say the least. cept. It's totally infuriating to s latest reality drama watch Auction System employees o put a new spin on the frequently talk about the tactics ues Roadshow" formula employed to get as much money as ing you behind the scenes possible for pieces of utter crap, oenix-based auction and then actually scam people into sal company Auction Sys- bidding large sums of money on the junk. In a slow economy where some people don't have enough money to buy food, no one wants ying to make to watch dim-witted people waste their precious money on someone PBS concept e *tnAs TLC's latest reality show X ": exhibits, the channel must clearly romed to fail, be hurting for the next big winner like "Jon & Kate Plus 8." "Auction- eer$" attempts this by trying to DAILY ARTS CHOOSES YOU, PIKACHU! UNLESS THAT'S NOT YOUR NAME. JOIN DAILY ARTS. E-mail join.arts@umich.edu for information on applying. "Going once, going twice, I'm a tool." take a successful PBS show and make it young and fresh, which is an obviously impossible act of desperation. People love - or love to hate - Jon and Kate, but there's no place for anything but hatred for the useless items and people on "Auctioneer$." tems, going from initial meeting with the seller to final buy at the auction. But instead of the hon- est, upfront and slow footage that makes "Roadshow" at least mildly charming, "Auctioneer$" tries to be exhilarating and fast- paced. Its quick cuts, obnoxious graphics, sound effects, silly items and excessive commen- tary ultimately make the show more annoying than anything else. To make matters worse, the buyers and sellers on "Auction- eer$" are weird far beyond the point of being entertaining. Jason, the VP at Auction Sys- tems and the show's host, is so into his job it's actually quite creepy. To him, everything really is thrilling, dramatic and intense - you'll probably think you're watching a man on speed (and maybe you are). Also, the people filling the auction seats seem just plain dumb. One guy was bidding upwards of $500 * on a dollhouse he had no pur- pose for. Another lady tried to express her fashion sense by winning the bidding war for a shoddy Princess Diana wed- ding dress knock-off - a perfect match with her gold-sequined C% information Connect with SI AN INFORMATION SESSION FOR PROSPECTIVE MASTER S AND PH.D, STUDENTS Noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23 Great Lakes Room, Palmer Commons RSVP by Monday, Oct. 18 at si.umich.edulrsvp A graduate degree from the School of Information prepares you or an exiting array of Information Age >, careers. Our Ph.D. program prepares you for, teaching and research in academia and corporate research labs. lrnd out how our flexible, mutidisciplnary program will benefit you! A Michigan MSI can lead toa career as: Archivist, librarian, Research Analyst, Web Marketing Manager Multmedia Consultant, Data Analyst, UabiltyrEngineer; Information Architect, Auction Designer/Manager Computational Lnguist, Natural Language Enginee: Policy Advisor., Museum Curator, Community Organizer - and many more!