thursday, february 23, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 9
'Beastly' play opens with a whine dj
By Charlie Krig
The "beast" presently residing in the UNI. Studio
Theater opened Tuesday night not with a roar but with a
whine. The play, Nourish the Beast by Steve Tesich, was
not well-constructed but this production, which runs
through Sunday, capitalizes on the best of the haphazard
script.
theater.
The two remaining actors, however, were consistently
real and funny. Douglas Street's portrayal of the Old Man
was uniformly absurd without degenerating into stereo
typical acting. John Thew was even better. In fact, his
characterization of the Criminal was no less than superb
as he made "hey" (the word that comprised the majority
of his vocabulary ) while the lights shincd on him .
But you would be gullible to believe that this play
makes a strong social comment about the 1970s. The sub
ject matter is presented more like a series of comic skits
rather than as a coherent play with a goal. It comes off
remarkably like a Johnny Carson monologue: encompas
sing the sublime and the appalling without a chance of
permanence or survival beyond immediate humor.
Tesich s plan must have been to pepper the script with
numerous character types and then hope some sort of
conflict would develop. What happens is little more than a
string of one-liners and insults about racism, politics, sex,
relatives, vomiting and other fun subjects. The script suf
fers from the uncohesive form.
The actors suffer, too. Tor each meaty, truthful line
there is another that is strained beyond humor or bclieva
bility. The resulting performances seesaw between raucous
hilarity and bland banality.
Loreda Shuster as Goya, the woman who adopted all
the crazies in the script, was so nervous her performance
vacillated with the script. Hither her jokes were bright and
funny or they failed because they were played Tor the
laughs and not as part of the character. Most of the
others V. Hric Sorensen as Mario, Joe McNeely as Bruno.
Ann Sandin as Sylvia, Woody Skokan as Adolf, James M.
Mellgren as Studly and Dan Reinehr as the Client also
had their highpoints and disasters.
The Feace Corps is alive and well. Call
toll free: 800-424-8580. PfeQC
M Corps
' - rial
A Public Service of this newspaper & The Advertising Council
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FILM-MAKERS1 SHOWCASE
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February 22, 23, 24, & 25
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