The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Arts & Sports Tuesday, March 31, 2015 — 7 ‘Iphigenia at Aulis’ comes to Walgreen By COSMO PAPPAS Daily Arts Writer “One of the great anti-war plays, ‘Iphigenia,’ exemplifies how the momentum of war can propel indi- viduals and a nation toward the unspeak- able.” This is how the website for the School of Music, Theater and Dance bills its upcoming performance of the last surviv- ing play of the ancient Greek tragedian Euripides, written at the end of the fifth century B.C. “Iphigenia” examines the story of the ethical conflict over the sacrifice of Agamem- non’s daughter, Iphigenia, in the prelude to the Trojan War. Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces, faces this deci- sion because Athena is barring their travel to Troy and decides that a sacrifice of a family mem- ber will appease her. But he has to grapple with doubt and hesi- tation over this decision, and deals with a back-and-forth game of persuasion with his brother, Menelaus. Euripides, writing against the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, had war at the front of his mind. “Iphigenia at Aulis” was performed at the state-sanc- tioned annual dramatic festival, the Dionysia, where it took first prize a year after the author’s death and a year before the end of the Peloponnesian War – the conflict that supplanted Ath- ens as a major economic and political power, giving way to Spartan hegemony. Lysander, a Spartan commander, estab- lished the oligarchic rule of the Thirty Tyrants in 404 B.C., dur- ing which time Athenians faced land expropriations, state-legit- imated murder and forced exile. “I think (war) is something I constantly react to, and I think our students do, too. I just think it’s important for art, and the- ater as one of the arts, to keep on reminding people that maybe we should be doing more to stop it,” said SMTD Professor Michael Tulip, director of the produc- tion. If literature is written in the confluence of historical, politi- cal and social forces, then “Iphi- genia” is no exception. Just because it was written 2421 years ago does not mean that it was written in an indetermi- nate then-and-not-now. And it is significant that Euripides was writing amid – or against – the Peloponnesian War, since Thucydides’s canonical account of the military conflict is one that influences military strat- egy and historiography to this day. Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist and military historian who introduced “The Landmark Thucydides” is also someone who praised President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and advocated for strong responses to Iran. Tulip and students of SMTD set their production of “Iphi- genia” in the 21st century, foregrounding the resonances between Euripides’s anti-war play and the immediacy of anti- war politics to our geopolitical situation. “In terms of costumes, we are in 21st century Greece and the soldiers look like they could be in Desert Storm or Afghani- stan, but without any emblems or anything to say that these are Americans or Greeks,” Tulip said. “We’re not doing any old robes or anything.” Tulip said that he and the cast have emphasized movement and physicality in their produc- tion as a means for enacting the internal ethical and affective conflict in and between each character. “For me, I would say that the way we’re looking at this work, it’s almost like a cross between a wrestler, a dancer and a human being who has got a lot at stake,” Tulip said. For Tulip and the SMTD cast, their production of Iphigenia always plays out at multiple levels. On the one hand, theirs is a theat- rical project that emphasizes the duality between character and that character’s allegory in an ethical conflict in the context of war. On the other hand, there is the way that “Iphigenia” empha- sized Euripides as an anti-war writer, and de-historicized and re- historicized the piece all at once. It pulls Euripides’s play out of history to make comment on a time – ours – that is entirely not his. But read- ing his work as an anti-war play also puts Euripides into context as someone who was responding to his contemporaneous geopolitics. The Friday performances (April 3 and April 10) will be followed by a talk-back session with the director, dramaturge and cast. Iphigenia at Aulis April 2-12 Arthur Miller Theater 7:30 p.m. General Admission: $28.00 Students: $10.00 EVENT PREVIEW ‘Big Time’ letdown By MATT BARNAUSKAS Daily Arts Writer Two police officers stand over a suspect. Dark blues and greens contrast with the shining fluores- cent light over their heads. The first offi- cer (Lenny Jacobson, “Nurse Jack- ie”) fails to get the criminal to talk. His partner (Alex Anfanger, “Secret Life of Wal- ter Mitty”) holds up his lit cigar and says in Spanish, “You like to smoke cigars?” “No,” the criminal glowers. “I like to smoke pigs.” The cop laughs before respond- ing, “I like Cubans. I love the way they burn.” He jams the cigar into the Cuban’s eye. The man releases a tortured scream the wall behind him slowly rises, and bright light fills the room as the cops cry out, “Mom, we’re right in the middle of shooting!” The tough-as-nails cops intro- duced in the opening of “Big Time in Hollywood, FL” are revealed to be 30-something slacker brothers, Jack and Ben, played by Anfanger and Jacobson, respectively. The pair still live with their parents, the assertive Diana (Kathy Baker, “Medium”) and the submissive Alan (Stephen Tobolowsky, “Cali- fornication”). The cinematic inter- rogation is reduced by the show to a poorly done home movie that the siblings are convinced will help them make it big, in spite of the shaky camera works, jumpy editing and bad acting. Jack and Ben live in a brightly lit world of ignorance. They have no skills, but their arrogant con- fidence in their “abilities” knows no bounds. So, it’s understandable that Diana and Alan ask the two to move out. When confronted with this, the brothers’ first solution is to suggest to their mother, “There’d be more space if you divorce Dad.” When this doesn’t work, the next obvious course of action is to fulfill the episode’s title “Severance” by pretending Ben has a drug problem. It would be easy for these two to fall into utterly despicable and unlikable territory, but series cre- ators Anfanger and Dan Schimpf (“Next Time on Lonny”) imbue the characters with enough naiveté and arrested development that their schemes are more amusing than sinister. However, Jack is the more manipulative of the two, com- fortably convincing Ben that he has to have the drug problem. Amusing is the best way to describe “Big Time” ’s humor. The situations that the brothers find themselves can be ridiculous and most of the characters have a goofy charm to them. Tobolowsky’s door- mat of a father, Alan, stands out as he only gets through disciplining his sons through Diana’s prodding. The antics seen in “Severance” are mostly worth an eyebrow raise or slight chuckle, and keep the view- er interested, but the show never breaks into absolute hilarity for the majority of its first episode, skating by on well established man-child humor. Only in the show’s final act, where it goes into unexpected ter- ritory, does the series begin to real- ize its full comedic potential. The pilot is boosted by the presence of guest star Ben Stiller (“Tropic Thunder”) as Jimmy Sta- ats, a failed actor, that Jack and Ben enlist to play a drug dealer shaking Ben down for money. Staats’s own illusions of stardom trump even the central pair’s as he puts on his best C-grade version of Scarface – white suit, bad accent and all. Stiller owns the screen anytime he’s present in the episode, especially in the sur- prising and hilarious final moments when the brothers’ light reality of self-delusion slips into a dark world of violence with Staats as the idi- otic, ultimate victim. The shift in lighting back to the color scheme in the opening fantasy helps trig- ger this change creating a contrast between the brothers’ fantasy and the real-world (albeit ridiculous) consequences they have to face in the upcoming episodes. “Big Time in Hollywood, FL” finds itself within the well-known territory of Comedy Central slacker comedies with the likes of “Broad City” and “Workaholics,” but it has yet to reach the comedic heights its predecessors have displayed over the years. However, the amusing atmosphere of the show prevents it from ever being boring, and the off-the-rails ending to its first episode displays promise for Jack and Ben. B- Big Time in Hollywood, FL Series Premiere Comedy Central Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. COMEDY CENTRAL The Three Stooges 2k15 TV REVIEW Michigan to face two MAC foes this week Toledo, Central Michigan visit Wilpon Complex Tuesday, Wednesday By NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer Winning two out of three games against No. 20 Maryland was undoubtedly a major achievement for the Michigan baseball team. The Wolverines (14-12, 2-4 Big Ten) will not be able to bask in their glory for long, though. Two Mid-American Conference teams stand in their way this week: Toledo on Tuesday and Central Michigan on Wednesday. “I’m just focused on our next training session,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “Before we can even get to the next game, we have to focus on getting better.” On the surface, the Rockets (9-18, 3-3 MAC), don’t appear to be a credible threat. The Wolverines defeated Toledo, 19-5, back on March 7 at the Coastal Carolina Invitational, and the Rockets are coming off losing two out of three to Akron. Alex Wagner, who has posted a 1-2 record with a 6.88 earned-run average in seven appearances, will start for Toledo. The Wolverines will counter with redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Matt Ogden, who is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA. But in order to prevent Michigan from coming down to Earth, Ogden will have to contend with the Rockets’ A.J. Montoya, who sports a .313 batting average with five home runs. Central Michigan (18-10, 5-1 MAC), on the other hand, will likely be a more formidable foe. The Chippewas swept Miami (Ohio) last weekend, led by Logan Regnier, who is hitting .353 with 23 RBI. He went 4-for- 5 with three runs and four RBI in Central Michigan’s victory Friday. Not to be outdone, offense has been plentiful for the Wolverines thus far this season. Michigan leads the Big Ten with a .293 batting average and is second in the conference in hits (259), doubles (54) and on-base percentage (.374). Senior centerfielder Jackson Glines is leading the way for the Wolverines, hitting .425 with an on-base percentage of .519. He rests atop the Big Ten in both categories. “I think we have a lot of really good hitters on this team,” said senior infielder Kyle Jusick. “When we put a lot of good at-bats together, we put up a lot of big numbers.” But the hero of the series with the Terrapins was junior right-handed pitcher and third baseman Jacob Cronenworth. Normally Michigan’s closer, he started the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, throwing 64 pitches in five innings, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out nine. The Wolverines’ offense came up short, though, and lost the contest, 3-1. But it was Cronenworth’s bat that made the difference in Michigan’s 10-1 victory in Saturday’s second contest. He blasted a two-run home run in the second inning and belted a three-run triple in the fifth. Cronenworth’s success boosted his batting average to .305. With Cronenworth expected to take on more starts going forward, expect to see freshman righty Bryan Pall take over the closer role. Pall boasts an 0.59 ERA with 14 strikeouts this season, and earned his first career save in the Wolverines’ 5-2 triumph Sunday. As for Michigan’s success against Maryland, it came despite some key contributors still sidelined with injuries. On the pitching staff, junior southpaw Evan Hill has yet to start this season, but should return soon. “We’ll work (Hill) back in slowly,” Bakich said. “We’re not going to just run him out there in his first outing and expect him to pitch a complete game. But we’re really looking forward to getting him back. He’s a great teammate.” At the plate, junior shortstop Travis Maezes — who hit .302 in 2014 — has not been able to play since March 7. “We thought we were going to have (Maezes) back this weekend (against Maryland),” Bakich said. “He’ll be ready any day now. He may not get to 100 percent, but he needs to get to a point where he can compete and help the team win.” So while it may be tempting for the Wolverines — with their ongoing goal of competing for a Big Ten championship — to look ahead to the upcoming three- game series with conference foe Indiana next weekend, Toledo and Central Michigan cannot be ignored if Michigan wants to vie for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. JAMES COLLER/Daily Redshirt junior right-hander Matt Ogden, who is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA, will start for Michigan on Tuesday against Toledo. “We’re really looking forward to getting (Hill) back.”