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monday, march 8, 1976
paga 12
daily nebraskan
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PrGliipp; Bn8oyhiiini more - AAcorccau
By Michael Zangari
Up until the night of the Marcel Marceau performance,
there was still a shade of cynical disbelief that the world's
most respected living pantomimist actually would appear.
It had to be some type of cruel and teasing hoax; per
; formers of Marceau's caliber are not easily drawn by a
small town municipal auditorium, let alone one strategi
' cally located in the heart of Lincoln.
Lincoln currently does not have the drawing capacities
or the facilities to host major talent. Beyond the obvious
, limitations, Lincoln also has the rather dubious distinction
of having one of the worst possible reputations in the
business as a place to perform. This has regressed to the
point of Lincoln being synonymous with a professional's
bad dream. Even Bob Dylan saw fit to walk off a Lincoln
stage in the middle of his only local appearance.
As initially gratified as I was to find out that Siarceau
was in Lincoln, I found it embarrassing that conditions
were such that Marceau could justly add to the flowering
Lincoln legend.
Conditions deplorable
Marceau performed to a less than capacity house under
conditions that were deplorable in their decided lack of
professionalism! More importantly, not only did Marceau
have to put up with detracting problems, but audience
members, paying as much as a healthy $8 a ticket, were
literally cheated out of the best show possible.
This is unforgivable.
Walking into Pershing Municipal Auditorium the night
of the performance, you were immediately attacked by
the newly painted walls. They are off-Burgundy and suffer
from an abrasive dullness that makes an uncomfortable
and crowded seating situation worse.
At show time, the lights were not di nmed, they were
audibly clicked off all at once, throwing the Auditorium
into total darkness and confusion simultaneously.
As ushers with flashlights frantically combed the area
with light beams, people without prior warning were
caught in the aisles, tripped over .folding chairs and
sprawled over others as they scrambled for their seats.
You had to remind yourself that you were there to see
the mime of Marceau, not Bare-foot Billy and the
Alabama Boogie Boys. During this mayhem, the curtain
goes up.
It was easy to momentarily forget the problems as
Pierre Verry, Marceau's title card bearer appeared in a
striking pose followed by Marceau himself and his first
mime. His stage presence alone was enough to erase initial
problems.
Floor not swept "
You don't really follow Marceau's imagery, rather, you
tend to flow with it. He creates props where 'there are -none,
he bends forms and shapes as he creates them and-
it's easy, to be mesmerized by the absolute magic he
invokes. ' .
The instant intimacy the man commands was rudely
interrupted. -
The stage lighting was improperly set, and haphazardly
focused. As a result, Marceau often would enter areas of
shadow and darkness interrupting the visual pacing of the
piece. The improper lighting also created shadows that
obscurred and transformed many of his facial expressions
into grotesque parodies of the intended images.
Further detracting from an excellent performance, the
stage floor had not been swept and mopped properly.
Marceau's movements occasionally sent up small clouds
of dust. Pershing's stage is not that old and this could have
been prevented even with standard preparation.
, Marceau's performance was very good considering what
he was up against. Technical imperfections kept it from
being totally satisfying, and he failed to grant an encore.
Marceau is and was fantastic, and he was a needed
breath of fresh air in Lincoln's entertainment doldrums.
One can't help but wonder and anger at the needless in
fringments that continually contribute to keep Lincoln in
those doldrums.
Moffett monotypes
will be displayed
at Sheldon Gallery
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery's exhibit for the month,
monotypes by Ross Moffett, opens Tuesday.
Moffett was born on a farm in Iowa in 1883 and began
his formal art study in Chicago in 1907. Moffett's person
al style began to develop in 1916 while he worked in an
art studio in Provincetown, Mass. He died in 1971 .
In his autobiography, Moffett said of this time, "The
thought came to me to try something radically different
from the more or less studio work I had been doing up to
that moment. So I began and hurriedly completed a small
canvas from which I had discarded all drawing from
actually present objects.
"Eliminated also were bright, high-keyed colors, and all
representation of sunlight, with the consequent cutting up
the picture with cast shadows. I invented and placed
shapes instinctively, without premeditation. The result
was a low-keyed canvas, produced largely by intuition."
Jon Nelson, assistant director of university art gallerys,
said Moffett's exhibit will run until April 4.
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