page 8
daily nebraskan
monday, april 17, 1978
n n O it.
The Human Factor' is typical of the spy novel genre
By David Wood
The Human Factor, by Graham Greene, Simon and Schus
ter. In his latest work, The Human Factor, Graham Greene
reverts to his favorite genre, the spy novel.
Genre, by definition, prescribes a standardized and
limited world-view. The character and the action are
mixed in set formulas so that its audience knows what to
expect from the genre's particular catalog of clues. There
is not so much original sensitivity involved that readers
must think too much about reality.
The Human Factor scores on all counts.
Its scenario is so manufactured and sterile, the persons
in the story are such pliant dolls (like Mattel toys) that
one would wonder what the human factor is that is stated
in the title.
For Greene's dolls, in their context, the human factor,
I assume, is that which can make men into double-dealing
double-agents, traitors, like Maurice Castle.
Castle is the main agent of the plot. He's a retiring (in
both senses of the word) worker in the home (England)
office of some secret service organization. He's as predict
ably dull and as stodgily British as the prose itself. So he's
not suspected of being capable of much intrigue. Same
with the book.
Castle is at least as old and dotty as Greene, and has as
cushy a job. He's one of two employees in the small de
partment of the business dealing with South African Af
fairs. ,
Once though, when he was younger, he had a more
glorious career (like Greene). He worked undercover in
South Africa; but that's only included in the book as dim
reminiscence, rather than drama. In the dark, harsh con
tinent, Castle fell in love with a Bantu named Sarah, who
he was using as a contact there. (Many working in the of
fice, it later seems, have a fascination with black women.)
Castle then smuggled her, pregnant with another man's
son, out of her repressive country, with the aid of another
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contact he'd accordingly made with certain communist
politicos in South Africa.
In thanks, Castle since has kept a communist agent in
formed of what passes across his desk in England. The hu
man factor, like a paraphrase from the Book of Ruth, is
that patriotically, his family is his true country. That
makes him more a hero than the other in the secret ser
vice whose true countries are their egos.
The story starts when the leak is discovered. Its crisis
comes when Castle's only co-worker, an unconvincingly
flamboyant alcoholic and romantic, is suspected as the
source and poisoned by his superiors.
The incident isn't dramatic or dramatized. Greene per
sists in progressing the plot through the flat dialogue of
characters afflicted with security paranoia.
Throughout the book, Greene pokes humorless fun at
mythic James Bond espionage. Greene's action, or inac
tion, contrarily evolves from easy -chairs or after explicit
ly described dinners or drinks.
After the murder, it would have been a smart (or
human) time for Castle to quit his job and head for the
English countryside. But an important emissary' arrives
from South African intelligence, and slips up (according
to standard formula), slipping Castle the unabridged ver
sion of some pertinent notes.
Castle relays the information and himself to Moscow.
The double-agentry that began with his wife Sarah's re
moval across tight political borders, now ends unhappily
for Castle, if not for the reader, with the final impossibili
ty of her escaping England, and from her mother-in-law,
to join her husband.
Politicality, Greene suggests, is as silly as religion. The
side that wins, he says once, is the side that is right; what
ever is better than silent warfare. But at the same time,
Graham Greene, and Castle, seem to prefer a sluggish, rus
tic and British suburbia over any other way of life.
At least The Human Factor doesn't follow the spy
genre formula so closely that it makes a hero of any of
its characters nor cedes any clear-cut triumph; as token
to more real human factors.
Theater's latest deals with man's fear of unknown
By Charlie Krig
The bubonic plague, God, superstition
and persecution comprise the section of a
world premiers play Tuesday night in the
Studio Theater in UNL's Temple Building.
The play is The Final Stroke by Robert
Beadell, a master of fine arts theater
student at UNL.
theater.
fVIW
In a special playwright's note, Beadell
says "The Final Stroke is not an apocalyp
tic version, it is a glimpse of a period of
time in which man had to question his
most primal beliefs. The play deals with
man's fear of the unknown and how it can
consume him ."
The director, Jose Felix Gomez, a Ph.D.
theater student from Puerto Rico, said the
play is based on historical fact but is not a
historical play. It is just based on people
and events.
"The first time I read the play I was
most interested in that these people were
so affected by this thing, the plague. It was
totally out of their control. Their fate goes
down the drain as a result. They found out
there they were caught and they couldn't
do anything about it," he said.
"We, as 20th century people, can't
relate to that. It's like how we go to the
doctor's when we're sick. You get some
medicine and then you just get well. They
couldn't do that."
In spite of the play's somber setting,
Gomez said there is a certain amount of
humor. "There is a black humor in it.
Some parts are funny. It's not heavy.
Nothing's pushed on the audience," he
said. "It's lighter than what people might
think."
The plot concerns the inhabitants of
Tutney, a fictional English village, and the
black plague's effect on them. Specifically,
the townspeople are afraid of Balavignus,
a Jewish scholar they blame for the disast
er. In addition, Balavignus is accused of
buying a boy from his mother and he must
face a cruel Catholic bishop's questions.
Gomez said he directed the play accord
ing to the conflicts among the characters
and not along a certain thematic line.
"I never approach a play in ways of
theme. It may sound nasty but I leave that
to the English and literature people. The
play is about the plague but that's not just
one line. It's also about man against nature,
man against God and even man abandoned
by God," he said.
Gomez also said his goal when working
with a play (and specifically a new one
such as this) is "not just how to make it
work but how to do the best you can for
it. How you can get the best out of the
script."
He continued, "It's not that you're
looking to establish a record to become
famous. You have to be conscious of the
time and place where you are, where
you're doing the play. If it turns out to be
a smash hit, that's good. You might think
of that in the back of your head but you
can't make that the main part of the play.
"But I do have to admit it's really excit-
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Photo by Bob Pearson
Scott Hobbs, Ann Sandin and Ron Nyhoff (left to right) in a scene from Robert
Beadell 's The Final Stroke.
ing to do this play because no one has ever
touched it before. It's raw material."
Gomez admitted he was scared at the
start of rehearsals but now he's confident
the play will work well. He said Beadell
was very helpful and supportive during
practice.
"Our relationship has been excellent
because of a good relationship between
myself as director and Bob as playwright.
You don't find that with a playwright who
doesn't believe in any changes, even minor
ones," Gomez said. "Bob has been very
open and flexible in our work and our con
cepts so we could adapt certain things with
cooperative decisions."
Some of the decisions concerned the
technical aspects of the play. Gomez said
the short, episodic scenes are reminiscent
of Bertolt Brecht's work so the set design
is very simple. The movement between the
three interior and two exterior sets will be
accomplished by lighting. Set design is by
Ronald Fowlkes (MFA theater student
from Oklahoma) and lighting design is by
Bernard Wolff (MFA theater student from
St. Louis). Karen Brown, senior theater
major from Omaha, is costume designer.
Cast members are Maria Harper as Ruth
(junior from Lincoln), Stef Kallos as
(senior, Lincoln), Patti Raun as Ann (fresh
man, Lincoln), Ann Sandin as Sylvia (fresh
man, Lincoln), Loreda Shuster as Kate
(senior, Lincoln), Steve Houser as Roger
(junior, Benbrook, Texas), Kirby Hender
son as Carl (freshman, Papillion), Scott
Hobbs as Bartholomew (senior, Kearney),
Ron Nyhoff as Timothy (sophomore,
Lincoln), Myron Papich as Balavignus
(MFA student, Detroit), Larry Petersen as
the doctor (junior, Omaha), Cliff Radcliff
as Reeve (MFA, Waynesburg, Ohio),
Woody Skokan as the Bishop (Lincoln),
Jim Sobczyk as Melvin (senior, Omaha),
and John Thew as Tom (freshman,
Lincoln). All except Skokan are theater
students.
The play will run Tuesday through
Sunday with daily performances at 8 p.m.
Tickets ($3 students, $4 regular) are avail
able at the box office in 102 Temple Build
ing, 1 2th and R Sts. The box office is open,
from 1-5 p.m. weekdays and 1-8 pjn. on
performance days.