The Michigan Daily - Saturday, July 9, 1983 - page 11
'Fifth' come
By Ellen Lindquist
F LFTH OF JULY, which opened July
6 by the University Players at the
Power Center, is a very hard play to
review because, while the cast perfor-
med convincingly, the play itself left
me cold.
Fifth of July, by Lanford Wilson, is
about a circle of former '60s hippy tur-
ned '70s conventional friends who
reunite, presumably, each year on the
Fourth of July. The play is set in 1977 in
Lebanon, Missouri, home of the legless
Vietnam veteran, Ken and his
homosexual lover-botanist, Jed.
Other characters are June, Ken's
sister who has become domesticated
since her radical, promiscuous flower-
power years, her 13-year-old precocious
terror of a daughter, Shirley, and Sally,
June and Ken's aunt. There is also
Gwen and John, a mod, vivacious, tac-
tless couple and Weston, the only 1960s
holdover, a spacey, frizzy-haired com-
poser.
The play had many highlights but did
not seem to hold together exceptionally
well. The best performance was
Margaret D. Gonzoles. She is dynamic
as Gwen, the hypochondriac rich
inheritor of a copper company, who
reminisces about the friends, "Oh God I
loved us back then" - referring to their
days of peace, love, freedom and mar-
ches on Washington D.C. Gonzales flies
into her part with great energy and self-
consciouslessness. Her acting is as
frank and gung ho as is her character.
Allen D. Fox, the bleary-eyed,
disoriented composer who absent min-
A selection of campus film highlig
Das Boot
(Wolfgang Peterson, 1982)
A look at World War II from the other
side of the trenches. This effort
reeut the tremendous hardshins of
dedly strums his guitar, is great as
Weston, most of whose lines are "sure"
or "far out." Fox's timing in saying
these lines is perfect, eliciting many a
chuckle from the audience. He is so ab-
sent in his part as Weston, as is the
character Weston, that he seemed to
float on and offstage, airbourne by his
incessant marijuana smoking.
Fox's characterization of this spacey
persona created the most sincere
moments on stage. Fox seemed to be so
immersed in his character that one
could not make the distinction between
Fox and Weston whereas some of the
other actors seemed extremely con-
scious of the fact they were acting in a
play. Weston was unique as a character
also because he was the last element of
the '60s which had survived unchanged
into the '70s. The audience, like the
characters, laughed at Weston in the
realization that an era of such space
cadets had once flourished.
Allen D. Fox is precious as Weston,
especially when, ruffled by the other
characters who laugh at his attempt at
telling an eskimos folk tale about a
family who starves because they can-
not bear to eat caribou meat thawed by
a fart, he storms away, gesticulating
with his middle finger, saying,
"f-you." His anger, because it is so
petulant, is very funny.
Most of the other characters were
also strong, but not as strong as Gon-
zoles or Fox. The set - the facade of a
clapboard, colonial southern home with
a large swing - was beautiful, lit in
shades of brown, pink and green.
Perhaps the play seemed dull
ghts
s a da3
because nothing really happened in it,
no fault to those who performed in it.
Fifth of July consists of dialogue, like
most plays, but without much action or
scene changes. The characters conver-
se about such topics as why did John
and Gwen leave one week early to go to
Europe blowing Ken's chances of
joining them in order to evade the draft.
The truth comes out as Ken falls off his
wooden legs and crashes to the porch.
But within the confines of this static
plot, the actors play remarkably well.
Timothy Hopper who plays the Nam
Vet, Ken, maintains his tight-lipped ex-
pression of doom throughout the whole
play. He does a convincing job of being
legless, tossing his legs forward on
late
crutches as if he is wearing a
prosthesis.
Douglas Sills as John well exuded the
greed of his character while Pauline
Gagnon creates an untolerable brat,
Shirley, complete with a grating, loud
voice. Mary Jeffried was good as the
despondent June, but her despondency
seemed to lack depth.
The University Players did what they
could with this corny play, and there
were great moments, but unfortunately
some of the energy which should have
unified the play as a whole seemed
locked up inside some of the actors and
actresses self awareness that they were
acting, rather than becoming the part
they were playing.
ding. (Saturday, July 9; Auditorium
A, 7:00, 9:35).
Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?
(Mike Nichols, 1966)
A great film. Edward Albee's play is
transformed into a wild, mean movie
concerning the strange relationship
between a milquetoast husband and
his bitchy wife. Just listen to some of
the best dialogue ever captured on
film. With Richard Burton, Elizabeth
Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy
Dennis. Albee's dialogue spoken in
Burton's accent is almost too good to
bear. (Thursday, July 14; Lorch Hall,
7:30, 9:45).
NOMAN BA ES SCOMNGHOME wait tilyouSee
ANTH ONY
PERKINS i 7-Vey
OAK PICTURE FOX FILMS
MON, TUE THUR, FRI, 7:10-9:25 MON, TUE, THUR FRI, 7:25 - 9:30
SAT ,SUN oWED, SAT SUN ,WR -,
1:003:00-5:05-7:10-9:251:10-3:15-5:20-7:25-9:30
the German submarine fleet through
the adventures of one U-boat. Tight-
direction and acting help make the
two-hour-plus saga endurable, but one
is ultimately left with little more than
a standard War ic with a trick en-
I- compiled by Richard Campbell-
No Nona hurts show
(Continued from Page 10)
An Inch," and his punked-up version of
the Persuaders' "Some Guys Have All
The Luck." He also included several
songs from the new Pride, "It's Not Dif-
ficult," "Say You Will," and Kool & The
Gang's "Take My Heart." He brought
the crowd to its collective feet at the
set's conclusion with "Looking For
Clues," and really got the place cooking
with encores of The System's "You Are
In My System," his own new single, and
Moon Martin's "Bad Case Of Lovin'
You" - his hit of 1979.
Palmer's set was musically strong,
though perhaps lacking a bit in
showmanship and inspiration. With this
in mind, it is particularly unfortunate
and upsetting that Nona Hendryx did
not appear. Perhaps with a bit of her
show-womanship preceding him,
Palmer himself might have been a bit
more loose. No reason was given for
Hendryx's absence, but there were
rumours that the rest of her tour may
have been cancelled as well.
The Buzztones opened the show, with
a mix of traditional '70s rock and, you
guessed it, synth-funk. Their set was
unobtrusive and danceable, reminding
me in its course how much I'd rather
hear '80s cliches such as White Funk,
than those of the '70s like incessant
guitar power chords.
Under normal circumstances, I
might have enjoyed the band more,
though the singer's voice seemed a bit
flat, and his persona - leather jacket,
tough, urban - a bit worn. Admittedly,
these criticisms are colored by the fact
that the band was in the tough position
of filling in for the highly vaunted Hen-
dryx, whom I was looking forward to
seeing. It was stilla good time. But with
Nona Hendryx added to the bill, it
might have been a truly memorable
one.