The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 25, 1982, Page 11, Image 11
.entertainmen
Prize-winnin
From Staff Reports
USC's first mainstage theater production,
Robert Sherwood's Pulitzer Prize-winning
"Idiot's Delight," opens at 8 d m tonight i?
? - ft *o"v "
Drayton Hall.
Although the anti-war commentary has
relevance today, it was first produced in
1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize that year.
"Idiot's Delight" takes place at a skiresort
hotel in the Italian Alps near Switzerland
and Austria on the eve of World War
II. The hotel guests are eager to leave
fascist Italy, but they are blocked from obtaining
visas.
AMONG THE guests is Dr. Waldersee
(Reid Davis), a German scientist who
claims he is developing a cure for cancer.
Waldersee insists he must leave Italy immediately;
he quotes Thomas Mann in
saying the world is experiencing "spiritual
backsliding to that dark and tortured age."
Irene (Lucinda Hamrick) is a middleaged
Russian who accompanies Achille
Weber (Robert Johnson) to the hotel. She
senses the impending war, although Weber,
a munitions expert, scoffs at her thinking.
Harry Van (Charlie Peterson) is an
American vaudevillian promoter with a
troupe of six chorus girls. Van is trying to
get himself and his group over the border to
continue their European tour in Swit
zerland.
Van seems to be conservative,
proclaiming, "We have become a race of
drug addicts, hopped up with false beliefs,
false fears, false enthusiasms." This atWorkshop
Thi
By John Vaughan
Workshop Theatre's second offering of the
season is almost everything the first was
not.
Workshop presented "Cyrano de
1??4 il ll ?1 ui 1
Dei gei at?lasi inuiiin; uie piay, wruien oy
IpS
Weller Martin (Lou Kaplan) and Fonsia Dorse
Workshop Theatre's production of "The Gin Gi
Act I s 'Deathtr
n. . l *a
uy Jonn vaugnan
"Deathtrap," currently playing at West C(
Theatre, is a production of ups and downs.
Some of these are emotional ups and dow
written comedy/thriller takes the audience on
ride as the plot twists again and again.
But at Act I, some of these are production i
the acting, technical work and direction giv
varying degrees of success.
ACT I has grown from last year's products
Good Man, Charlie Brown." The theater was
one couldn't be sure if it would live.
This year, the theater has been "born ag
still housed in the rather Spartan Heyward M
Center, the organization has augmented its v
? for example, bringing Jim E. Quick, a
amateur actor and director, to direct. In essei
has begun a move into the territory of es
theaters such as Town Theatre and Workshop
With this move, Act I has increased its st
anH ito anHiurino frnm thia ii/nrlH nf <
-VW^/IA MIIM A UJ UUVI1VIIV/V Jli Ulll HIV ff W? ?\? v/? ?
Mom-and-Pop community shows to take-us-i
amateur theater.
With this in mind, Act I opens itself to more
and more frank criticism.
THE PRINCIPAL ups in "Deathtrap"
formances of the three principal performers
as Sidney Bruhl, Jane Turner as Myra Br
Shelley as Clifford Anderson. Included in this <
interesting set and most of Quick's direction.
Downs focus on erratic pacing and a hea^
trayal of Helga Ten Dorp by Louise Linari.
t
g play open;
titude clashes with that of Quillery (Avon
Stephenson), a radical French socialist.
SHERWOOD'S PLAY is certainly
moralistic, but is structured to avoid a
nrpnonHprmic tnno Rnccuil n?****.** - * v- ? *?
J* v>> v? WJ vw?*V I V VIOOA 1 VJ1 Wil j d tCl
department professor, will direct the
drama.
The play's title is drawn from a reference
made by Irene, who says she feels sorry for
"poor, dear God," who has nothing to do in
Heaven but play solitaire ? " 'idiot's
delight' ? the game that never means
anything and never ends."
The USC theater season includes three
more mainstage productions, which run for
five shows or more, and three showcase
presentations, which usually run for shorter
periods. The next staep nffprina will Ho
"Buried Child," Sam Shepard's Pulitzer
Prize-winning play about the death of the
American dream, Nov. 11-14.
Mainstage productions will be "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
"Buried Child"; "As You Like It,"
Shakespeare's classic comedy, Jan. 24-30;
and "Bent," a violent look at the treatment
of homosexuals in Duchau, a Nazi concentration
camp, March 23-27.
eatre stages b
Edmond Rostand in the 16th century,
featured a large cast, swashbuckling action,
elaborate prvstnmincr uorco Hioinrtna nnri
^?uiuiugut anu
different locations for certain scenes.
The theater's current production is "The
Gin Game"; the play, which won D.L.
^ ???
Photo by ABnon Rime II
y (Ruth Gottlieb Moore) play a hand of gin in
ame."
3 - B -
ap snowcases i
Local audiences may not I
)lumbia's Act I stage form, although it enjoy
way. Many people, however,
ns; the tightly starring Michael Caine as Br
a rollercoaster and Christopher Reeve as And
Ira Levin's play revolves ai
ips and downs; New York playwright with a
e "Deathtrap" Hungry for a good play, he i
protege and recognizes the v,
young playwright, Anderson, t
)n of "You're a
born then, but THE PLAY takes an omi
creasingly obvious that Bruh
ain." Although what he wants, and that he
[oore Fine Arts lengths ? his home is stocl
olunteer assets productions of his stage thrille
familiar local What follows is a constantly
ice, the theater confusing pressure of a psychi
tablished local measure.
ineaire. uuDose is excellent as
.andards ? for presence, wry facial expressic
>trictly-for-fun, playwright a thoroughly conv
seriously, local the intended subtle humor an<
as when he vaguely strokes hi
genuine praise "Nothing recedes like success.
Turner and Shelley are b
delivers a fine performance.
are the per:
Billy Dubose TURNER, a theater grad
uhl and Mark anxiety nicely, reaching a pit
category are an first act. She is careful not
character development is ai<
/y-handed por- subtleties.
> tonight in I
\; 'yZ." '" ^jajCdBMr 2* -i
Elaine (Suzanne Fernandez), Francine (Helen I
(June Hamrick) are four of the six chorus girls
The season opened with a shnwoasp
presentation of "The Birthday Party,"
which ran Sept. 29 through Oct. 3. The show
will be the university's entry in this year's
American College Theatre Festival.
Tickets for individual shows will be
available for two weeks prior to opening
night. Mainstage show tickets, including
itter, emotions
Coburn the Pulitzer Prize in 1978, features
nn 1V t\l/n norfnrmorc lWHn ~ " 1 ~ ~ '
w.iv pviiviuitii}, muc cKJllUU,
simple costuming, modern dialogue and is
played in one setting.
THE GIN GAME" unfolds in a lounge of
the decrepit Bentley Home for the Aged.
The play begins as Weller Martin, one of the
Bentley residents, introduces himself to
Fonsia Dorsey, another resident. It is
Visitors' Day; since neither Weller nor
Fonsia have visitors, he asks her to play a
game of gin with him.
After the stubborn Weller has instructed
his acquaintance in the rules of the game,
she proceeds to win ? repeatedly. The gin
game Droves to be an imnnrtant Hpvirn ac
Weller and Fonsia reveal themselves in a
bitter, emotional statement about growing
old alone.
The play is both funny and unsettling to
the audience; for the actors and director, it
is a supremely demanding work.
Workshop's production is directed by Jim
Blanton, who moves the drama along deftly,
remaining true to both the humor and the
ugliness in the play.
BLANTON IS aided by the intimacy of a
cm oil fKonfnr oitnK on
niiiuii LV,I ouv.il cio TY ui i\anwp ? llllb
factor has been noted before in reactions to
shows that operate on a smaller scale. With
ips, downs [Orch
lave seen "Deathtrap" in its I
ed an extended run on Broad- lliilM
saw the recent film version, .
uhl, Dyan Cannon as his wife ; ffn?| Staff R<
erson. .
ound Br uhl, a once-successful Four soloi
string of recent stage bombs. USC's tJWve
eceives a manuscript from a tonight in Be
ork as superb. He invites the
0 his Connecticut home. The solois
00 obo$, K<3
nous turn as it becomes in- j bassOOtt ff| v
1 will go to any lengths to get
has the means to go to such
ted with weapons from past SThe four a
rs. Caro^lS
twisting who'll-do-it, with the
c, Ten Dorp, thrown in for good ^ ;/
x The coac?
Bruhl. His animated stage fo^tojjteC
ns anH elixir mnlro W -AiiJiiii
M U??va? V4V11 VVA J I11C4IW' UIV . UJU#|
incing figure. He scores with .**j?6Vane? a'
i adds nice subtleties himself,
s high hairline as he declares:
9th USC students, and each
uate student, builds Myra's jpjjjhett
:h as excitement builds in the 3jjws?i$i'fetljis$
to upstage Dubose, yet her
ied with her own considered fjuisi<2
See "Deathtrap," page 12 I.
Drayton Hall
H|<v: :i^S|^R
MHHv /.raggEM^g^^ : : :
Ingebritsen), Shirley (Natalie Picow) and Bebe
in "Idiot's Delight."
"Idiot's Delight," are $4 for the general
public; $3 for USC faculty/staff, senior
citizens and military personnel; and $2 for
students. Individual showcase tickets are 50
cents less for each category.
"Idiot's Delight" will run through Sunday,
wun penormances at 8 p.m. except for a 3
p.m. Sunday matinee.
il drama
"The Gin Game," the Workshop audience
feels it is watching Weller and Fonsia
through a door that has been left ajar.
Local stage veterans Lou Kaplan and
Ruth Gottlieb Moore earn this reviewer's
respect for sheer effort alone. "The Gin
Game" is physically and emotionally
exhausting for the two actors who must
shoulder the drama.
The Dlav is more a tost of a r?prfnrm<->r
than an opportunity to showcase talents; the
success of the play will always owe a great
deal to its superlative writing, and while an
actor cannot hope to outshine the work, the
work could surely outreach the actor. It is to
their credit that both Kaplan and Moore
remain true to their characters' development.
In short, the drama is excellent and
Workshop's handling of the material results
in a finished product worth seeing.
THE GIN GAME' does not play tonight,
but continues with performances at 8 p.m.
tomorrow through Thursday. There is a 3
p.m. matinee Sunday and the play ends its
run with performances at 8 p.m. Nov. 2 and
3.
Tickets are $5.50 for adults and $4.50 for
students, senior citizens and military
personnel. For more information, call the
Workshop box office at 799-6551.
*************
69Ua VUIiliCII
ires soloists
sport*
ists wi.ll perform featured selections when
rsity Orchestra gives its fail concert at a p.m.
iokerT, Washington auditorium,
ts? Doug Graham on clarinet, Eric Qhlsson
>bert Pruzin on horn aiul Jdii Williams on
dll perform the Mo*art Sinfonia-Concertante
i the orchestra.
re USC faculty members and members of the
merata. a woodwind rtmt
aneonflute. *
rt will opot* with Leonard Bemteirt** over$K?retta
"Candide." Stravinsky's 'Wcineil*
a ba&etiii 191% imdFaure's
* Su?te"&&*sedon music supposedly written
^P^gole4%Jthe-38t|i cettfciry, Itoearchhas
&v<ar> that much of tfii* mtaiic attributed to
tuajuy was not wriuea r>y mm.
ioleai died at age &, he wa# a popular com*
jperfomir^: and their .
roduced works under his name to help sell
, according !# Robert Jesselson, a music
ri'iiii iiimmm ,iii:J