The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 17, 1983, Page 8, Image 8
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By John Vaughan
Parallels between USC's current theater
offering and a past university stage bomb are
glaring, and the temptation to compare is
just too great to resist.
USC's production of Tennessee Williams'
"Suddenly Last Summer," which opened
this past weekend at Longstreet Theatre, is a
disaster.
Similarities between it and last year's worst
presentation, "Idiot's Delight," are striking
and embarrassing ? because "Suddenly Last
Summer" is even worse.
BOTH PLAYS, though authored by acclaimed
playwrights, were dubious selections
for the university theater season.
Although Robert Sherwood earned a
Pulitzer Prize for "Idiot's Delight," he won
it in 1935 and the material seems quite dated
a half-century later. Williams' play suffers
from extremes he avoided in such works as
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar
Named Decirr "
Both shows were produced as the second
of the season. Both are peopled by sharply
diverse characters. Both enjoyed grand,
towering sets designed by USC's gifted Susan
Gratch.
Both plays also failed on a grand scale for
clearly the same reason: both had the misfortune
to be misdirected by USC professor
Russell Green.
GREEN SIMPLY gave up on "Idiot's
Delight," failing to exert any directional
focus and lpnvino his nprfnrmcrc to wanHpr
diminutively beneath the huge set in a real
disappointment.
This time around his presence is very obvious,
but suffers from an almost myopic
misconception. The result is beyond disappointment;
it's a fiasco.
Wrapped in Williams' hallmark aura of
brooding, unsettling shadow, "Suddenly
Last Summer" centers on a troubled young
woman named Catherine, who was the sole
witness to her cousin's shocking death in a
foreign country.
Violet Venable, Catherine's frightening
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and is pushing to have her lobotomized ?
she insists Catherine's fragmented, hysterical
story be quelched.
WHY VIOLET refuses to bend and the
haunting mystery of Catherine's broken
recollection are sifted out in Violet's eerie
tropical garden, as a probing neurosurgeon
endeavors to bring the dark secrets to light.
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Those dark secrets are rooted in the
playwright's surreal imagery. Concepts of
alienation, religion, moral decadence,
materialism, maternalism and the base of evil
are irrevocably woven here into Williams'
disturbing dissection of the human
condition.
The playwright's thematic intentions demand
an adept touch with his imagery, from
the lush garden to the consuming blaze of
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Instead of perceiving any degree of surrealism
with detached horror, however,
director Green has blown the itr* ial to
almost hyperbolic proportions, shr. it at
the audience and milking oi. ?ive
caricatures from his cast.
SADLY, THIS wastes some very fine
technical foundations.
Set designer Gratch has devised a
monolithic gazebo that adds creative interpretation
to Williams' work. It puts the
players under imaginary glass for the audience
to study, and a vaulted ceiling sets up
a psychological vortex for the play's higher
sights.
Gratch has thoughtfully graced the stage
with lush plants, a few pieces of ornate furniture
and a trickling fake stone fountain.
Wisely, more responsibility for color contrast
was left to lighting designer Eric
Tishman.
Tishman's work is beautifully and subtly
wrought, capturing the viewer with shadow
and fire. Where the production was supposed
to crescendo, at least the lighting meets the
moment with a bath of white-hot rays.
LIKEWISE, ALLEN Smith's costuming is
visually pleasing and artistically perceptive in
each case.
In retrospect ? and in all seriousness ?
the show would have been superior as a
design production. Smith could have arranged
and costumed mannequins and let the
lighting and sound effects dance in svm
phony on the crafted set.
Certainly this reviewer would have been
more entertained.
I was truly disappointed the show could
crumble so quickly with such strong technical
support.
CRUMBLE IT did though, soon after
Fredrica Lawlor, posturing in one of the
silliest makeup jobs I've ever seen, made her
entrance as Violet Venable.
With the catatonic Steve Earnest as Dr.
Cukrowicz, the seams split early on, even as I
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Dr. Cukrowicz (Steve Earnest) holds Catherine (I
In USC's current production of Tennessee Williams' "S
resolutely awaited entrances of additional
characters that might turn the thing around. "
No such luck. But this reviewer cannot see bi
the value of disparaging individual actors h;
when each poor performance owes so much
to Green's directorial decisions. is
Let it be enough to say it's difficult to ti<
believe all but one actor are graduate se
students in theater.
w
THE DIRECTOR has his performers fair- se
!y screaming at us, and his pacing leaps immediately
to a high pitch without any strong
forward thrust. It never changes levels and W
prevents any real emotional crescendo at the m
conclusion of an interminable hour-and-a- m
half. L
t-stomoin'. hand-clai
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v t stomping songs. I)
^ a little mo re t ha n 11
? crowd, however,
crowd's country n
ection
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_ . Photo by Shtun Koh
Mary Ann Baldwin)
uddenly Last Summer."
When Dr. Cukrowicz intones at one point,
I think a quiet atmosphere will get us the
est results," one wishes intensely that Green
ad recognized that virtue.
Perhaps the best we can wish for, however,
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on and not choose to repeat history with the
icond offering of next season.
Just in case he has crossed a black cat or
alked under a ladder; if this curse lasts
ven years it's going to be our bad luck.
"Suddenly Last Summer" continues
Wednesday through Sunday, with perforlances
at 8 p.m. except for a 3 p.m.
latinee. For ticket information, call the
ongstreet box office at 777-2551.
spin' crowd
ed up.
Dt country music played to a packed house
hursday night.
espite having a case of the flu, was greeted
on from the andienrp Iotip*; alnno with hiv
Jones Boys, opened the show with a hit
lo Show George," which describes traits of
isic stars, including Jones' own trademark
t appearances.
orming his own material, Jones gave the
portunity to play other songs. Before Jones
e backup group played country standards
Blossom Special," to which the crowd
>ped. Throughout the night, Jones took
ry other song, while the Jones Boys enterONES
appeared tired at first, the excitelce
sparked an energetic performance. The
dly for every song Jones played, including
"The Race Is On" and "Nothing Better
the Best."
On," many fans raised lit matches and
e dimly lit theater aglow.
les Jones played were slow ballads, but the
red as loudly for these as it did for the footuring
one of the ballads, "He Stopped Lov(hp
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MIVU5 Mil V* VIIV/V1 LU Cl\J;nd
of the concert, Jones expressed his ap;rowd's
reaction. "You're the best I've ever
nes was a Columbia-based group the Rob
i quintet's powerful country rock sound met
; applause and cheering. The band recently
:ssful six-week tour of Germany, where it
>f originals and classics, justas it didThurs^elatively
short, with the entire show lasting
wo hours. Judging from the cheering of the
the night proved to be enjoyable. The
uisic star had showed up.