The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 04, 1981, Page Page 8, Image 8
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