Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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j THE GAMECOCK u Mondaj anuary 27,2003 5 CONTACT US 1\r |"Y THEY SAID IT ■ / EDMUND BURKE: “A state without the Story ideas? Questions? Comments? I W / means of change is without the means E-mailusatgamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com * - — —JL. of its conservation.” -4 Lions and tigers , andy^j Clowns, _ ^ my * _ PHOTOS SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Circus still captivates audiences of all ages BYJESKA GARRISON THE GAMECOCK Imagine clowns... everywhere. £ This is how the Ringling Bros. r i Bamum and Bailey Circus be gan Thursday night at the Carolina Center. Clowns circled the arena in threes with slingshots and T-shirts, working the crowd with the sort of inner magic that all clowns seem to have. The few-hundred spectators in attendance leaped and dove to ward any flying shirt tossed near them. Children in the audience stood on their chairs, pointing and laughing at their face-painted en tertainers. The crowd was stunned by a multitude of flashy acts. Some per formers defied gravity and others rode on elephants and horses. Some balanced six times their own weight on their backs, and all ^ hibited the unique ability to awaken the child in every person. A person could almost get dizzy trying to follow the eyes of the on lookers. The audience sat mes merized, especially when the trapeze artist performed, in awe of the young woman’s ability to defy gravity. As the decorated horses emerged, they drew “oohs” and “ahhs” from the audience, yet the mood quickly changed. During one trick, in which the horses were to run out of the ring backwards, the trainer tried to force one of the horses to run cor rectly. The audience became uneasy as he cracked his fake whip on the ground near the wild-eyed horse. After the other horses exited, the defiant horse was brought back into the arena to do what ap peared to be laps around the cir cle. He was again coerced into re peating the trick, but did not com plete it. The horse’s eventual procession backstage left the audience clap ping —out of sympathy for the em barrassed trainer. Then the clowns emerged and quickly erased the horse fiasco from the children’s minds, and the acrobats then assumed their positions, flipping, spinning and hanging from each other. The crowd happily watched as different acro batic techniques were dis played in each ring. Impressive as they were, the act lasted a bit long for the chil dren, who began to lose interest. The adults, however, couldn’t seem to tear their eyes from the ring. Intermission meant hungry kids and high prices — $7 for a snow cone. Despite the prices, parents bought not only food and drinks, but over-priced toys as well. Intermission lasted only fifteen minutes, yet nobody was late re turning to his seats, nor was any one empty-handed. Tigers emerged on stage, and they appeared to have as short an attention span as the children in the crowd did. Most adults point ed and whispered to their kids to look at how beautiful the tigers were, but the children didn’t seem too impressed. The tigers were told to stand on their back legs, front two lifted, as if they were merely large house cats. The audience cheered, but it was obvious that the tigers were not nearly as amused by their pos es and jumps as their human on lookers were. The tiger segment of the show was short, but well performed. Next, the No. 1 clown put on sev eral skits, amusing the crowd. He dressed four audi ence members in “thug” clothing and pantomimed, trying to teach them how to rap. Everyone enjoyed his act, and it was evident why Barnum and Bailey claim he is the best clown around. The elephants were one of the last acts. They stood on each oth ers’ backs, linked themselves trunk to tail, and stood on each other while one lay on its side to be stepped on. The elephants are the circus’ biggest asset, and the audience loved their performance, thoroughly enjoying their many poses and balancing acts. Altogether, the circus was wild and fast-paced. The human acts amazed everyone, even with slip ups and short routines. The ani mal scenes were fun to watch, but one couldn’t help feeling sorry for some of the creatures. Overall though, the show proved why Ringling Bros. And Barnum and Bailey’s Circus is called “the greatest show on earth.” Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com PLAY REVIEW Show gets trapped in own dark humor “DEATHTRAP" Workshop Theatre BY CARRIE PHILLIPS THEOAMECOCK * A play about writing a play about the play you are watching — sound familiar? No, it’s not a wacky stage adaptation of that Nicolas Cage movie; it’s Workshop Theatre’s production of “Deathtrap" by Ira Levin. The play opens on Sidney Bruhl, an aging playwright who hasn’t had a hit in years and suf fers from writer’s block. Played by South Carolina Shakespeare "Company actor and director Christopher Cook, Sidney is de scribing a play he has just read; “A thriller in two acts. One set. Five characters. A juicy murder in Act One, unexpected devel opments in Act Two.” The play he’s critiquing is also called “Deathtrap,” and was sent to him by a former student. He tells his wife, Myra, that it’s a good play, and he jokes about killing to take ownership of it. Sidney invites “Deathtrap” author Clifford Anderson to his house to review some of the ideas he has for the play. This starts a chain of events that cul minates in murder, betrayal and even a few laughs. “Deathtrap” is designed to draw more laughs than it actu ally does; there are wry obser vations about theater produc tion and directing that are funny to experienced theatergoers, but seem a little too much like in side jokes to be truly humorous to the whole audience. This play is a dark comedy, but in Workshop’s production, that’s not as evident as it should be. ’ “Deathtrap” toys with the thriller genre’s conventions, but to a generation raised on “Scream” volumes one, two and three; it’s been done. The discussion on typewrit ers and the references to Merv Griffin feel out of place since the play was never efficiently dated for the audience. The costuminjg puts it in the late ’90s to the present, but the play itself is supposed to be set when it was written — in the late ’70s. Cook’s portrayal of the bitter, homicidal Bruhl reflects his ex tensive work in Shakespeare. He has a Shakespearean air about him, and it conflicts with his comic timing. There are moments, especial ly in the second act, where he lets go and delivers the lines just ‘ as they should be, but he’s not consistent. As Myra, Becky Hunter (and her fabulous capacity to scream for minutes at a time) deftly cap U DEATHTRAP, SEE PAGE 6 PHOTO BY MARK BISSET/THE GAMECOCK Jeremy W. Gingrich, left, plays Clifford Anderson, and Christopher Cook stars as Sydney Bruhl In “Deathtrap.” * MOVIE REVIEW ‘25th Hour’confuses viewers with underdeveloped ideas “25TH HOUR” Starring Edward Norton, directed by Spike Lee BY BEN ANGSTADT THE GAMECOCK There are two types of movies: meaningful and meaningless. “25th Hour,” the latest effort from director Spike Lee, based on the - vel by David Beinoff, can’t de cide which category it wants to fall into. It seems like there is a greater social message lying just beneath the surface of the film’s melan choly exterior, but that message becomes too convoluted amidst the spontaneous flashbacks, weak ly developed supporting charac ters, and forgotten story lines. “25th Hour” centers on New York City native Monty Brogan (Edward Norton). Monty had just been convicted of dealing drugs, and the film follows him through the day before he begins his sev en-year prison sentence. As his last free hours tick away, he must say goodbye to his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), Father (Brian Cox), and childhood friends Frank (Barry "fcpper) and Jakob (Philip o^ymour Hoffman). As time goes on, it becomes ev ident that Monty regrets his mis takes only because he fears the tor ment he will likely face once be hind bars. He is a selfish man who, in a strange dialogue with his own re flection, curses all things that he deems responsible for his choices in life. Norton seems like a strange choice for this role. While he has played criminals and unsavory characters before, he is unbeliev PHOT O SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Edward Norton plays convicted drug dealer Monty Brogan facing a seven-year prison sentence In “25th Hour.” Brogan recalls his choices that led him to his legal troubles. able as a greasy drug lord. The contribution of supporting characters to the overall plot should be important, but very lit tle is ever revealed about his or her personas outside of how each relates to Monty. The minor ex ceptions to this are the long dia logues between Frank and Jakob. Ironically, Frank is a Wall Street trader of questionable char acter, but he avoids the same fate as Monty, though he might de serve it more. It seems possible that Frank is meant to deliver a message about the stock-market scandals, but there are too many underdeveloped ideas for the au dience to really understand any thing that Lee is trying to com municate. Jakob, meanwhile, is a gen uinely nice guy with one slight problem: he is a high school English teacher who is attracted to one of his J7-year old students, played by Anna Paquin. It’s the most interesting side plot, but Jakob’s story comes to a climax and then immediately ceases. After it ends, there is no dramat ic purpose for his character. Coupled with the film’s rapid back-and-forth dialogue and open ended conclusion, it’s easy to leave the theater thoroughly confused about what just happened on the screen. The one aspect of “25th Hour” that doesn’t disappoint is its top notch musical score. The somber jazz melodies that play through out the film communicate Monty’s despair and are outright beauti ful. While a worthy effort, “25th Hour” seems so undecided with what it’s trying to say that it ulti mately says little. Norton and Lee fans might still want to check this one out, but for everyone else, avoid the confusion. -—$ Comments on this story? E-mail gamecockmixeditor&hotmail.com SHOW REVIEW Band’s modern sound draws growing college-age audience PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY COREY GARRIOTT/THE GAMECOCK; PHOTOS BY FORO DAVIS/THE GAMECOCK Thomas Reed Band is, from left, David Reed, Nathan Reed, Will Hammond and David Baker. THOMAS REED BAND New Brookland Tavern H H H OUt Of HE BY ASHLEY VAUGHN THE GAMECOCK The Thomas Reed Band is not your typical college rock band. Well, on second thought, it is. Lead guitarist David Baker, however, does not apologize for playing, as he calls it, “main stream modem rock.” His fellow band members, bassist and gui tarist Will Hammond, drummer Nathan Reed and vocalist David Reed don’t seem bothered with such a classification. And considering the size of their following these days, why should they be? Thomas Reed Band’s dedicat ed fans braved freezing weather to attend Thursday’s show. Nathan Reed said: “Our fans are great. We got people coming out to listen to us, and everybody seems to enjoy themselves, you know, have a few beers and what not. Our concerts are really laid back. People can sit there for an hour or so and listen to some good rock music.” While the atmosphere relaxed during the mellower tunes, for the majority of the show no one was sitting. In fact, everyone danced, and the crowd seemed to know every word to every song. During “Too Late” people shouted the refrain and held up their beers, toasting the band. In fact, when asked to describe the most interesting or embar rassing thing that has ever hap pened on stage, Baker said: “I’m sure there’s one, but for some rea son it’s real foggy. It has some thing to do with Coronas and PHOTO BY FORD DAVIS/THE GAMECOCK The band plays its “mainstream modern rock.” Martinis. It’s refresh ing to see a band that’s so far from being trendy or pre tentious. While Nathan Reed said that it would be nice to sell “15 mil lion records,” the band members are more concerned with staying true to themselves and to each other. Baker explained that the secret to good stage presence is “just to be comfortable and be yourself.” “The cool thing about our band is that we’ve known each other for a long time. We’ve got more respect for each other and our music and more of a bond as a band them someone who was like ‘I don’t like playing with this band, I’m gonna put an ad in the paper and pick up this person.’ None of us would quit on each other and we wouldn’t kick any of us out of the band,” Baker said. Thursday’s show culminated with two classic rock songs re quested by the audience: Tom Petty covers “American Girl” and “Free Failin’.” Thomas Reed Band songs such as “Distorted” reveal other influ ences, such as Matchbox Twenty. David Reed even credits Rob Thomas for playing a part in shaping his lyrics. “I think that it’s tough for us ... as funny as it sounds, having a mainstream modem rock sound because most people in Columbia, you know, they kind of stray away from that ...-It’s kind of tough to get people to come out and listen to music that’s not jammy or heavy,” David Reed said. Baker also talked about the ob THOMAS REED, SEE PAGE 6