University of South Carolina Libraries
-entertainment. USC stages sti From Staff Reports A dingy seaside boardinghouse. A down-and-out pianist dreaming of a world concert tour. A motherly landlady who sometimes seems just a little crazy. Two strange, sinister men who arrive on the scene in a sleek, black car. These elements will come together at what may be the strangest birthday party ever seen when Harold Pinter's comedy of menace, "The Birthday Party," opens the 1982-83 USC theater season tonight at Longstreet Theatre. "The Birthday Party," which Pinter wrote in 1958, is a curious blend of absurd comedy, drama and suspense. The play focuses on Stanley, an out-of-work piano player hiding from a hostile world in a small boardinghouse. THE BOARDINGHOUSE is run by Meg, a slovenly but motherly old woman, whose affection toward Stanley is rather stifling. Who Stanley is, where he came from and other details of his past are net provided. He simply lives in the house, a pathetic but not unlikeable man. His strange but secure environment is soon interrupted by the arrival of two sinister men, who also provide no information about who they are or ...U^4 41 1 A.1 wucti mey are uuuig mere. It is apparent, however, that the two have arrived to take Stanley away ? somewhere. Again, this is unclear to the audience. "The Birthday Party" touches the voyeur inside most people, according to Richard Jennings, the USC professor who is directing the play. He said the drama drops the audience into the middle of a dramatic situation without providing significant background information or motivations of those involved, giving the viewer the sense of being a Peeping Tom. PINTER'S REASON for using this technique, the director said, is a desire to capture a higher realism on stage. "Pinter finds the absurdity in real life. He deals in contradictions and his plays are so mysterious they are like solving a puzzle," he explained. Pinter has not had a play performed in Columbia in several years, ana mis proaucuon will De a hrst opportunity for many students and Columbia residents to see a work by the critically acclaimed British playwright. Describing this play, Pinter wrote: "There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. Popular private By Bev8r|y Sin""on8 Operating h J?i ?i-ivi 1 it At v^uiumuia s uiuesi estaDnsnea nigntciUD, me new licen: Don's Marching and Music Society, plans to change, but I change its club status from private to midnight ratht public, according to new owner Arch Nobles. MORI F?s Nobles said he hopes Don's will be a public n , Parii<*r bar by mid to late October. ^ khni^ er An application for a business license to ?,j ^0De s change Don's to a public bar had not been rhantfintJthp received by the state Alcohol Beverage , J J har > Commission as of Sept. 21, said Harry rn??mptir ' Rivers Jr., chief of licensing for ABC. primarily, pai HUMORS THAT that Don's was closing this summer hurt business. Nobles said Hp . -y- - said he hopes that as a public bar Don's business will improve. "As many as 60 other change* people, most of whom are students, try to nrf nn??ih1v a get into Don's on weekends, and we just ^ y can't let them in right now," Nobles said. As a public bar, visitors would no longer PRICE IN< be required to pay the $2 membership fee, "Our prices nor would they have to be sponsored by a wholesalers n member to enter the bar. Several stu Changing from a non-profit private that Don's is organization to a profit-making public public, business requires the establishment to post "I think it's Q mom 1 nrmri/^n Krkf /\r?1n ft * !?? ? ~ ~ 1 A ^ biay open uiu times and seat at least 40 people, Rivers they draw a said. screen peopl< ^ ^a^H| JHHHjnjnB The recent addition of a pool table is one example of cosmel expect as Don's Merching and Music Society becomes a publii range 'Party' a Two sinister men (Mert Hatfield and Richard Berg) ? LTU I ' 1 n ' " inruaittn oiomuy iunucK vvneizeii in me mrtnaay rany. "A character on the stage who can present no convincing argument on information as to his past experiences, his present behavior or his past experiences, his present behavior or his aspirations, nor give a comprehensive analysis of his motives, is as legitimate and as worthy of attention as one who, alarmingly, can do all these things." TO HELP an American audience identify more strongly niahtnluh nlans 1 ?g-- r? " ' ours also would be affected by se. Weekday hours would not , )on's would have to close at I HOpG StlldClltS 001 er than 2 a.m. Saturdays. we're changing the CI , .. ... . Don's will always be AID he would like to open , , ' Saturdays and close later tudents don't think we're concept. Don's will always be " he said. changes are planned: "77; ~ .. , crowa, saia scou L^amy, a ntingthe walls a lighter color. maior ave expressed interest in a ..JIf jt bli it wi? b( , and disc jockey to be used other bars in the area - voucurrent juke box. Nobles sa.d f. d t ,t> , town b? s addition in the near future. , , the drain if a new crowd com< > may include some expansion larger dance floor, he said. DAVID RUPLE, a poi :REASES are not expected. junior, said he feels the clu will only go up if the will change if Don's goes pub lise prices," Nobles said. makes you feel like it's the ri dent members are unhappy Several of my friends an planning to serve the general weekend. When it goes nnhl ? 0.?- r to find another bar to go to," 1 a mistake. Right now they can il 2 on Saturdays, and I think "You get to know the bartc good crowd then. They can real friendly, and I like that \ so there's usually a good crowd that may change. The I^JII |1H BF ' . ^u|jgMOM| Mufl H WBbb^^P H - :*aKr".'-':/ ' _ D B| m M ^^B^HH9HBnHBHB| ^Hn^BH8|B^BHBx S^HQB tic changes patrons may Owner Arch Nobles said Dt : bar. feel the club may get too cro wmmmmmmmammmmmmamammmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm t Longstreet with the play, Jennings has neutralized the British elements of the script, in effect giving the play an American location. He has retained the playwright's time period, however, leaving it set in the late 1950s. The production, which will be the university's entry in this year's American College Theatre Festival, will feature a cast from the USC Theater Department's master of fine arts program. Chuck Whetzel will portray Stanley, with Richard Berg and Mert Hatheld as the sinister duo. Hope Nunnery will play Meg. Audiences may remember Whetzel and Berg from Jennings' production of "Marat/Sade" last year, in which Whetzel played an infamous Marquis de Sade and Berg portrayed Jean-Paul Marat. THE USC theater season includes four mainstage productions, which run for five shows or more, and four showcase presentations, which usually run for shorter periods. Mainstage productions will be "Idiot's Delight," Robert Sherwood's prophetic, 1936 Pulitzer Prize-winning protest against war, Oct. 25-31; "The Amorous Flea," a musical version of Moliere's "School for Wives," Dec. 7-11; "Fifth of July," Lanford Wilson's powerful play about love and family in America, Feb. 22-27; and "Everyman," considered the greatest of the English morality plays, April 12-17. Showcase productions will be "The Birthday Party"; "Buried Child," Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the death of the American dream, Nov. 11-14; "As You Like It," Shakespeare's classic comedy, Jan. 24-30; and "Bent," a violent look at the treatment of homosexuals in Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp, March 23-27. Season ticket subscriptions, which include tickets to all mainstage productions plus one showcase, are $16 for the public and $12 for USC faculty/staff, senior citizens and military personnel. Student subscriptions are $8. TICKETS FOR individual shows, including "The Birthday Party," are available. Mainstage show tickets are $4 for the general public; $3 for USC faculty/staff, senior citizens and military personnel and $2 for students Individual shnu/MCP tickets are 50 cents less for each category. "The Birthday Party" will run through Sunday, with performances beginning at 8 p.m., except for a 3 p.m. Sunday matinee. to become public oncept. ... | P j]yp ; . j Photo by Michflol Becker senior finance out to make money, and that's okay, but it sort of hurts me," Ruple said. ; too much like Rupert Ray, former owner of Don's, ^'on't be able to fixra?r?tpH hi? hartonrlonc <-* Ko r uu. VVI1UV1U IU UC 11 1CJ1UIJ dliu ir. It'll go down courteous, and that policy still stands, acjs in," he said. cording to Nobles. "We're not changing Don's ? the image will stay the same," Nobles said. litical science b's personality OPERATING DON'S as a public bar is lie. "The decor experimental, Nobles said. If the crowd ght place to be. dwindles or the image starts to change, the d I go every club will go back to being private, he exic, we're going plained. tie said. Located at 807 Harden St., Don's has been open since 1964, which makes it the city's ;nders. They're oldest established nightclub, according to . With a bigger Nobles. The club has been private since y are obviously 1977. w?A I h|^K i llsis wlHH I Ph?to by MkhMH B?cfc*r in's must turn patrons away some nights. Some members wded as a public bar.