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Errtert Onefc ? ? ? A Ketrayal i By David Baker In the midst of as distinguished a career as any contemporary playwright, Harold Pinter has resorted to gimmickry in order to cover up the shallowness of character and banality of story in his latest offering, "Betrayal." The three-character play tells the story of Robert, a publisher, Jerry, a literary agent, and Lmma, an art gallery owner who happens to be Robert's wife. Robert and Jerry are best friends and Jerry has paid back Robert's good will by having an affair with Emma. THE PLAY opens in 1977, two years after the affair has ended and proceeds backward in time to 1968, u'hpn thp HrtinWnn Tnrrv fir?t grabs the arm of the selfdoubting Emma and ignites the flame that will burn steadily for the next seven years. By making the clock go backward, Pinter opens the a/m? I nr o f 1 a/\/4 r\f i r\oirtV>f uv/vi iv/i a nvAAi ui iiiaigui, but the expected onslaught turns out to be little more than a trickle. Memories turn out to be distorted and allegations turn out to be false, but the characters are so dull and ill-defined that the reader cannot involve himself to the point where he naroc in tho clirrhtacf *iKm11 vut vo in uiv i uuwui what happened to make them as emotionally neutered (and in the case of Robert, as sardonic) as they ai e at the play's outset. Music On Jan. 25 of this year, \ music student David Allison his wife Wanda made a fev something a little more supe: Her husband had won thin Artist Competition for musii 11 nc f otn Mnu? Vai^It ? > upovovc AltVT 1 SJl iv uauvc w wife wasn't. David Allison has been fourth grade. He's played i recorded beer jingles and wl in 11)77, he dropped out of Ithi THE YOUNG musician en Community College and ev training to be a nurse. Their two lives separate Wanda spent their last sur playing in the Hudson Va nursing at a local hospital. In August of last year, studying en rou^e to a music packed up and moved to Cc jot) ai uicniann Memorial .EliilJ.L1 . ""WWII"! 1 >311 Wanda A lainmer >ooks s shallow Far more than a snippet of Pinter's dialogue rings with that hollow attempt-at-truth feeling that permeates so many of today's truly wretched plays and, as always in a Pinter play, the lines are littered with pregnant pauses and extended silences. THE PAUSES in "Betrayal," however, are not the pauses that refresh. Instead of adding depth to the characters or illuminating their predicaments, the stretches of silence stultify many of the better constructed speeches, nullify the effectiveness of many of the more revealing scenes and, as written, succeed only in becoming stumbling blocks in the way of the reader's understanding and perception cf what exactly is happening at any given moment "Betrayal" enjoyed a fivemonth run early last year on Broadway, its moderate success no doubt the result of the names in its cast: Blythe Danner, who received a Tony nomination for her performance as Emma, Roy scneiaer ana Haul Julia. Perhaps the actors managed to flesh out that which Pinter committed to paper (Danner, especially, is capable of performing miracles with sub-par material), but ! whatpvpr thp mf?rit<j nf "Betrayal" on stage, the play is painfully thin material for an afternoon's reading. Nursir vhile 23-year old USC graduate watched the Super Bowl at home v telephone calls and found out r. 3 place in the fifth annual Young :ians held in Savannah, Ga. The as surprised at the results His blowing the trumpet since the n different bands for years, he hen the financial times t?nf hard ca College. rolled in Catskill Orange County 'entually met Wanda who was but always united, David and nmer up north in 1980? David Iley Philharmonic and Wanda David decided to further his Master's degree. He and his wif >lumbia, where Wanda earned z Hospital and David became ar Jffl I Hi son erious, the I ? 1 Mil MB MM I m 111 IrolW-1W \ H Id WIUMiV LIFE itt rr ANYWAY? BRIAN CLARK ig = the start c Inside Entertainmer Mark assistant to Dr. Keith Amstead, associate professor Trombone in the music deDartment. A typical day finds David driving his wife to Richla Memorial at 6 a.m. and then practicing the trumpet in 1 office until 9:30 a.m. David then spend the remainder of I > day going to classes, tutoring trumpet students a researching early history trumpet recordings with gradu. student Steve Miles. He is a member of the Faculty Br< Quintet and teaches trumpet to high school students. ' C/IMS.' f Vir. \\l rtV-. cnVinnl ~ U U nv/ifiii \/i inv 111511 avuirvsi Diuuuuu) die IHC1C UCCilUSU II really like it," David said. "The (marching) bands i competitive down here and their goal isto play in a band.' David's award from the Savannah Symphony include< $300 cash prize and a chance to perform with the Savanr Symphony Orchestra during the 1981-82 season at a n subscription concert. A unique situation in Savannah arose when music direc and conductor Christian Badea said no first place fin should be awarded because there was no first-place quality the competition. "The competition was strange because everyone v prepared to do three movements and when we got there, tl lold us we had to do one movement," David said. "I v working on my stage presence for the movement." 1 musician said the movements were probably altered beta the judges didn't want to hear the whole piece. THE ROMANIAN Badea said there are four categories musicians. The first is those that are "excellent ; professorial." The second have a wealth of potential but n< slightly more work. The third category is those who neec practice more consistently and then there are those t "have no musical talent and should throw their instrume in the ocean." other j A funny p] Brian Clarfc Life Is It, / By David Baker Brian Clark's "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?" began life as a television drama for the BBC in 1972. Six years later, a stage version opened in London and, after a year's run, was transferred to Broadway in April 1979. After Tom Conti departed the leading role, Clark rewrote the play for a female and the Mary Tyler Moore edition opened last February. Both Conti and Moore won Tony awards, as did the play itself, which is now available in paperback. The movie version of "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?, with Richard Dreyfuss in the lead, will be released later this year and by 1983, it should be aired on American television, thus bringing the play full circle. As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. But the fact of the matter is "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?" deserves each one of its varied incarnations. AS POINTED as it is poignant, the story is that of Ken (Claire in the Moore version) Harrison, a young sculptor paralyzed from the waist down in an automobile 3j u r?KU David Allison didn't like th the 35 musicians who entered the first category and that fourth. "As long as you can r on an instrument, you shouldi David and Wanda Allison trying to establish their root week, after they've put in doz open their paychecks and woi Wanda is a nurse, "becau from work, I want to know th I'll be able to progress furthe DAVID WANTS to teach of torate. In the future, they'll fc the migrated New Yorkers, ;n.d careers do. his .1. _ . ne For David, there is a comp nd and for Wanda, the work a ate equal out." But down the r *ss they just might make it. are v. (intor J8 flPijH ish JHPr JjMTJB B| /in &*" jjB; :--';H& vas iH ley jTC?3|nk V;?9BaMflH8HBP^^ Da via ?T runny lot in l's 'Whose Vnyway?' accident, who must fight to get discharged from an English hospital so that he may die a swift and dignified death, rather than live as a noHmr puivi j i ivau. What distinguishes the story from all the other "ight-to-die tales we've been exposed to via movies and television is its reliance on black humor to get its points across. For instance, when a consulting physician tells Ken that once his condition is stabilized he'll be moved to a special hospital, Ken replies: "You mean you only grow the vegetables here -the vegetable store is somewhere else." In addition to being quite funny, Clark's dialogue is terse and thoughtful, making the reader care about even the most subordinate characters. I REGARD the Broadway production with Moore topcast as the most touching and well-mounted play I've had the pleasure to see and in the transition from stage to print, as well as in the transition from fpmalp tn male lead, the play loses very little of its sweet sadness and none of its verbal elan. ' future e thought of a conductor telling I the competition that none fited some of them represented the nemorize that long a movement n't be told that." are typical of a young couple s, their future. At the end of the :ens of tiring hours at work, they nder if they'll ever get ahead. se I love it. After I come home lat my patients feel good. I know r in my job, but it'll be slow." after he hopes to earn his doca familv to think about but for the future advances after their etitve music field to worry about nd the pay just "don't seem to oad, with each other's support, >' >:yj y;- .vvv v-^ n' I f Allison