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Theatre Chocolate Bayou strips sympathy out of Steinbeck Of Mice and Men Chocolate Bayou Theatre Through February 20 While time never stands still, the essential elements of man's situation remain the same. His 7 Chocolate Bayou cast of Of Mice and Men needs, fears, hopes, and desires are universal and timeless. As cliched as these themes are, they provide a continuity that assures a relevance to John Steinbeck's dramatization of his novel Of Mice and Men. This classic story (first staged in 1937), details the lives of two drifters as they track from ranch to ranch motivated by that "stake" which will buy them their dream. The current production at the Chocolate Bayou Theatre turns the compelling, hardhitting script into a supine, mildly disheartening insight into the human condition. The story is built around the relationship between George and Lennie, the drifters. At first glance t^ey are foils of one another. George is small and intelligent; Lennie is large and simple-minded, upon which all the action must emerge and converge again. After emerge and converge again. When George is left with the responsibility of taking care of Lennie. However, the tie between them is more than that between caretaker and dependent. They are bound together by a shared dream and common goal. The Chocolate Bayou's success here results from the two central actors and their ability to forge this merger with conviction. R.J. Maxwell (George) and Peter Bryson (Lennie) suqpeed in establishing an onstage interaction that offers depth among otherwise shallow performances. They both move and speak in synchrony. Their speeches of the future, concerning rabbits, cattle and alfalfa, are complementary reactions to each other. They are not merely two actors sharing a stage. R.J. Maxwell, in addition to working well with Bryson, stands out as the single most consistent actor in theshow. He maintains his tough, but pliable George with ease and fluidity from start to finish. That he is able both to merge his character and keep it distinct is remarkable. Peter Bryson at times carries the role of Lennie well. He appears sufficiently dimwitted, eager, and without malice. He is large enough to suggest the brute strength of Lennie that throughout the play The Rice Thresher, February 4, 1983, page 10 proves lethal. When not on center stage, however, Bryson's performance loses conviction. He fluctuates between Bryson and Lennie. When directly called upon to affect Lennie's character, he rushes to the task with perhaps too much alacrity, but once his lines are finished he puts Lennie away, and leaves Bryson waiting for his next cue. The rest of the cast only graze the surface of their characters' natures and spirits. As Curley's wife, Ashley Crow did not develop her character beyond the walk and the makeup. Similarly, Steve Caporiccio, in the role of Slim, is ineffectual. Slim should be in control, calm, self-assured, with an innate wisdom that prevents him from pursuing the impossible goal that those around him are so feverently pursuing. Caporiccio instead exhibited so little emotion that he seemed more like one of the mice than one of the men. Paul C. Mathews accurately depicts Curley, the boss' son, as a big-mouthed bully with more brains than soul, and equally endowed with cowardice and selfishness. Regrettably, Curly's wrath seemed more like the temper tantrum of a spoiled child than the product of a wicked envious heart. Charlie Trotter (Candy) and Maxwell and Bryson hold show together Willie Dirden (Crooks) are both guilty of making their characters superficial. The characters they play are complex and profound, but both Dirden and Trotter let indifference into their performances. This play is about a mouse, caught and killed. It is also much more, and we should accordingly feel more than we do when we see a mouse dead in a trap. —Aniko Kiralv The laughs cover the flaws Political farce sparkles, but just not brilliant We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! Chocoiate Bavou Theatre Through February 20 Food riots, miraculous pregnancies, police searches and birdseed-soap are elements of We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay!, R.G. Davis' translation of Dario Fo's political satire. This entertaining play is presently staged by the Chocolate Bayou Theatre on its second stage, The Other Production Space. The lively production is similar to an I Love Lucy episode in antics, confusions, and comic style while its political moments tend to drag it out. The comic side of the play develops out of Antonia's need to hide groceries she stole in a riot at the supermarket. Once the groceries are home, she hides what she can and gives the rest to Margherita. The food cannot be carried openly because of police searching for the stolen food, so the women stuff the grocery bags under Marcherita's coat in feigned pregnancy. Antonia's husband, Giovanni, is shocked to come home and find his best friend's wife in a sudden advanced stage of pregnancy. A police search cuts short the makeshift explanation and leads into the first of many political dialogues concerning the injustice of the social, economic, and political situation in Milan in 1974. The humor follows lines that should not be new to anyone who has seen reruns of the late 1950's sitcoms. The political side of the play is quite poignant. The riot at the supermarket is in protest to increasing prices. Antonia asks, "Who are they competing against?" The question sends Giovanni into a tirade against capitalism. While the first policeman is searching the apartment for stolen groceries, Giovanni discusses government and how nothing ever | gets done. The policeman agrees with him but explains that he sympathizes with the workers since he is one himself. He gives the apartment a thoroughly inadequate search, opening everything and looking in nothing. The policeman and Giovanni are on common political ground when the inspection ends. Both agree the government is a pawn of the rich. A second inspection follows, only this one is made by a Hitler clone. Giovanni starts where he ended with the previous policeman since they look the same (both parts are played by Clive Carnes) except for the Nazi mustache. His authoritarian reaction to Giovanni causes Antonia to prompt Margherita into "labor" to keep her husband out of jail. The play works and the politicizing ends for tffe moment. Fo attacks every hierarchy and political ideology possible. His general indictment against the working class is indifference. He summarily attacks capitalism, communism, socialism, fascism, authoritarianism, and unions. Each time his solution is that the workers must rule since union leaders, foremen, etc. do not act in the workers' best interests. The play ends with open revolution and chaos in the streets. It is likely that Fo's anarchistic political actions have kept him out of this country. The production lacks the crispness needed to flow smoothly. A tighter performance would speed up the pace and make the political proselytizing more palatable and possibly cleaner. There was a noticeable amount of hesitation in delivering lines. Clive Carlin provides much of the needed life to the performance in each of his four roles: two poljcemen, grandpa, and undertaker. He definitely injects energy into theshow. Margherita, played Ginny Lang, also does a good job especially with the physical aspects of her role. Her expressions and movements support her lines as do Antonia's, although her dialect is off again, on again. The play is staged in The Other Production Space at Chocolate Bayou. As the name suggests the theatre feels like it was hastily thrown together as an afterthought. Frankly, many college commons have been made into better theaters. Poor ventilation and crowded seating make slower parts of the production seem unbearably dull until the humor False pregnancy hides political message. crops up again. At some points this feels quite long. Approximately half of the audience had to contend with light in its eyes. Seating is on three sides of'Tne stage and lights are on walls opposite two of them. The audience eventually adjusted to this but they need not have had to do so. The lead-in music is interesting albeit confusing. Opera arias are played until the lights go down and a circus tune comes on > The circus lead is appropriate for the chaos that is advocated and some of the stage antics. While the arias set an Italian tone to the pre-show and intermission breaks, there is no connection between the working class story and the high culture of opera. The play is funny enough to cover most of the flaws. It is worth the 50c to $1 more than a movie that it would cost to see We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! although do not expect a perfect performance. —Michael Trachtenberg
Preview Players continue success of season's political dramas Tango Rice Players February 7-12 This has been a good year so far for the Rice Players. Box office returns have kept the coffers filled; production costs, meanwhile, have remained within manageable bounds. Both critical and popular response to last semester's shows were, almost without exception, quite positive. Shaw and Stoppard were full successes. This is not too surprising of a track record for Rice's wellrespected theatre group, under Neil Haven's highly polished direction. It is, still, a flattering testament to the group's professionality, especially considering the fact that both shows last semester (Major Barbara and Stoppard's two one acts) are particularly difficult genre. Political farce, be it late 19th-century liberalism or "post-modern" rose-tinted wit, is tough theatre, to say the least. Success here seems to come only when the political ideology is presented with ease, humor, and human gentility; diatribe and debate made sensitive and even funny. The blend is attempted The Players present political Polish farce often these days, though the Players' success record is rather rare. The Players continue this year's ambitious theme of political farces with their third production, Tango, by Poland's leading playwright, Slawomir Mrozek. Like Shaw and even Stoppard, Mrozek has been a central political activist as well as artist, voicing the note of concern common to his time and situation. In years to come, critical acclaim will likely include him among the elite of theatre's politicians. Tango, one of his most highly touted works to date is an ideological foundation, a microcosm of Poland's 20thcentury turmoil. The play focuses on a highly ideosyncratic family; odd and quirkish but also, of course, a paragon of man's struggle. Father Stomil (played by M. Christopher Boyer) and mother Elinore (played by Ann Laffoon), are slightly outdated remnants of a liberal hippie past; Stomil is a beer-bellied director still stuck on Dada theatre while Elinore calmly longs for a return to good ole protest days. This loose, unstructured couple have raised a niece (played by Karen Chatfield) and son Arthur (playe> by Joe Ponessa). Arthur returns from college as the spirit of reactionary conservativism, armed with logic and a new sense of tradition. He plans to clean up the past generation's histrionic debunking of order, and reestablish a civilized family life. Think now, if you must, of Poland's highly conservative reformation after the dangerous explosions of WWI; Mrozek certainly keeps it in mind. But then, from the struggle of right against left comes the sheer brute force of simple Edek, a "vulgarian bounder" played by Hal Kohlman. Once only hovering at the periphery, Edek launches forth to beat all into a strict control clearly reflecting Stalinist Poland in WWII. Mrozek postulates clearly and simply this full swing of the political pendulum from liberal to conservative extremes and finally to a fascist tyrrany. Fortunately though, director Havens exacts more than so much didactics. Major Barbara had an equally blatant "point" and Stoppard just as obviously pokes fun at British bureaucracy. Yet both productions seemed considerably more, and Havens explains his process of depoliticalizing, more theatricalizing as it is worked this time in Tango. "We had to do a lot of editing. Our translation seemed bad at spots: repetition of important V«|| ^ V/. Joe Ponessa and Karen Chatfield in Tango New Wove ideas, a little too much philosophical debating." While Tango will certainly voice M rozek's rather pat view of Polish politics, the real business of the play is to develop other, more human elements. A soft and airyset design by Barry Watkins with smooth, natural lighting by Penny Remsen (guest artist from the Alley Theatre) all put the piece in a comedy mode with an intimate, domestic feel. The characters are an interestingly mixed bag: some are semi-absurdist caricatures (although none are left to be mere walking symbols), others are see Tango page 13 British wavers wow dance crowd Bow Wow Wow Numbers 2 January 30 Bow Wow Wow delivered the sensual experience of the week on Sunday. The thrill was short-lived, however, as the group followed the one-hour concert tradition set by some British import band in the days of the Paleo New Music era. Lead singer pubescent poppet Anabella charged onto the stage with a high-energy version of "Louis Quatorze." Although she's no longer fourteen, as the lyrics claim, Anabella charmingly conveyed her mingled surprise and pleasure (they're always mingled) at being statutorily raped by an Cinema absolute monarch. As she whispered "Louis Quatorze. I love you" at the song's end, she gave a demure little toss of her mohawk/ponytail that sent the heterosexual faction in the audience into advanced erotic stimulation. Anabella seized the moment to launch into her projected next hit, "Baby Oh No." Dance club denizens took a beat to shiver happily before resuming their patented dance music gyrations. The Burmese-British beauty led her legion like a Burundi-beat cheerleader: now flailing, now robotic, always moving. Malcolm Mcl.aren fans were not disappointed, as the group neatly performed a number oi early tunes produced by him alter his stint with the Sex Pistols, including "C-30, C-60, C-90 Go!" and "Sexv Eiffel Towers." Unfortunately, Bow Wow Wow did not replicate nearly as well the sound of current producer Kenny Laguna: the crowd failed to recognize the AM hit "I Want Candy" until Anabella began singing. I had the personal joy of seeing her warbling "little piggy iggy eyes" during a rave-up "Golly Golly Go Buddy," and being in the middle of some sensuous slam dancing during "Elimination Dancing." If only it could have gone on longer. —Jeanne Cooper Jimmy Dean returns every year continued from page 9 an oddity to be ridiculed. She is now the protagonist, the instrument employed to tear away the facades behind which her comrades hide. As every character has more truth revealed about herself, the audience feels the emptiness that remains. This is precisely the reason that the ending works so well; it is a logical and appropriate result of this revelation process. The only problem 1 had with the film was that at times the plot is too predictable. The characters become so vivid that the truths about them are hardly surprising in most cases. The brilliance of the film lies mainly in the acting. Black is superb, giving one of her best (if not the best) performances. Her credibility as a transsexual is never in doubt as she gives a haunting portrayal of a victim of society's ignorance. Dennis is good as well, the role being well-suited to her nervous facial expressions. The real surprise is Cher, who shows a comedienne's flair while giving a memorable dramatic performance, particularly memorable in light of her past work. In fact there is not a weak performance in the film, a reflection qn Altman's ability as a director as much as on the actor's themselves. The images in the film are excellent as well, and enhance the dramatic effect, particulary the flashbacks which appear in the mirror on the wall. Thus the present becomes a mirror of the past, but a past based upon lies is a weak foundation. This past has become so firmly entrenched in the characters that they no longer know what the truth is. Only through the help of one who sees the past clearly can they come to self-realization. And when self- realization comes about, there is no longer the need for icons of the past. Ultimately, whether or not you care about "subtle meanings" and "images" is immaterial, the film is enjoyable and thought-provoking. However, you might have to wait until it comes to the River Oaks to see it, for it has already finished its run at the Greenway. Sorrv. — Ian Hersev CHRIST THE KINGlw LVTHERAN n CHVRCH Rice at Greenbrier • In The Village • 523-2864 Worship 8:00 & 11:00 a.m. Sunday Evening Student Supper 6 p.m. - $1.00 Donation Pastoral Staff available for consultation by appointment Transportation availableforstudents by request For additional information see our monthly newsletter, the CALENDAR Providing The Rice Lutheran Thresher, Campus February Ministry 4. at 1983. Rice page 11
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Page 17 and 18: INTRAMURALS Cinzano romps to soccer
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A" -rf Hackerman shrugs off low ratings of grad programs - Rice ...

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