monday, december 11, 1978
page 8
daily nebraskan
arts & entertainment
Undergraduate cynicism clouds Christmas season fun
By Peg Sheldrick
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa la la la la la la la la
Now we pay for last month 's folly
- , Fa la la la la la la la la. . .
Deep in the midst of my post-midterm,
pre-final, ain't-got-no-research-done blues,
the last thing I need now is to be told what
a swell time of year this is. Term papers
and finals loom ominously on the academic
horizon for those of us who followed the
teachings of the grasshopper instead of the
ant.
humor
Is it any wonder I contemplate murder
when I hear the woman across the room
whining, "Well, I'm on page 24 of my
paper (of course this is only the thirds
draft) and I'm wondering if he'll accept a
six page bibliography. . ."
It isn't just the pile-up of work that
depresses me. I can remember the time
when this season was a real pleasure for
me. I baked cookies, handmade cards, and
sang songs. . .1 think that was last year.
Christmas cynic
None of the trappings around town
seem to help. Strange that a light-up blue
conical abstraction of an evergreen doesn't
arouse even the faintest "ho ho ho" in
me. With four years of carefully cultivated
undergraduate cynicism to my credit, it's
going to take more than Jingle Bell Rock
over the loudspeakers to get me into the
spirit of the season. Somehow it's hard not
to sneer at the commercialism of cards that
say, "Especially for You at Christmas" and
come 500 to a box.
As if everything else isn't enough, the
weather would send Nanook of the North
scurrying for his down coat. The ice
palace effects are pretty, but I'm tired of
doing my Hans Brinker routine on the way
to school each day. I'm generally fond of
snow, but the novelty wore off after the
first three inches. Jack Frost isn't nipping
he's gnawing.
Soon to be skinless
It all makes me feel so old. Gad, accord
ing to the ads, I only have three years of
decent skin left. After that it's "skin over
twenty-five," which evidently resembles
shoe leather unless it gets moisturized
nightly. If the weather keeps, mine won't
even last through the winter. I've already
shed enough dry skin to reupholster Kate
Smith. Old and cold and soon to be skin
less. Fine way to feel. It's enough to bring
out the, "Bah! Humbug!" in anybody.
That's just how I felt-until a couple of
days ago. I was coming up 13th Street.
There was the usual Salvation Army Tree
of Lights booth. I looked around to see
who was ringing the bell. It was a little old
lady, stoop-shouldered and so tiny it
looked like the sub-zero wind could have
carried her away. She was standing there
in her old blue coat, cheeks aglow, holding
her bucket in one ungloved hand and jing
ling a rhythm with the bell in the other.
She had to be over eighty. And she was
smiling. I got to thinking about it and-
You'll have to excuse me. I can't finish
this now. Gotta take the cookies out of the
oven.
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
This woman, collecting donations for the Salvation Army despite the cold weather,
reminds passers-by of the true spirit of Christmas.
'Sea GulV shows Chekhov's talent and students5 shortcomings
By R.A. Weigel
It is seldom that one of the four major
plays by Anton Chekhov are done with the
infinite detail, unifying mood, and clearly
delineated characters so discretely written
into the often misunderstood plays. They
contain some of the most subtle and
beautifully written theatre in existence, a
challenge for any theatre company and
regreatably, beyond the capabilities of the
UNL theatre department.
This is not to say that the present pro
duction of The Sea Gull at Howell Theatre
is not worthy of consideration as an artistic
achievement. But it is to say that perhaps
the difficulty of the intricacy of "Chek
hovian" rhythmic diction and the total ful
fillment of the characterizations is beyond
most college actors.
Key to success
Konstantin (Joe McNeely) a young poet
and the son of Irina, (Patricia Raun) a
somewhat passe actress, is in love with
Nina (Judith Radcliff) a young girl with
theatrical aspirations. Nina, however,
prefers the middle-aged author Trigorin,
(Steve Houser) Irina's lover.
Directing is the key to the success of a
Chekhov play. The plays are marvelously
orchestrated with what seems like trios,
duets, solos, and then back into ensemble
acting. Director Rex McGraw, is aware of
the difficulty of the show and has asked
Professor Bruce Kochis of the Modem
Languages and Literature Department to
read the play in Russian and to help with
the translation and word -choice used in
this particular production.
Form mixed
Disregarding the trappings of Stanis
lavsky and the naturalistic rhetoric that
Chekhov supposedly did not like in the
production of The Sea Gull; and looking
only at the work done by McGraw in his
attempt, the form is too mixed. McGraw
has his own style of blocking that often
omits the facial expressions of a character
when the reactions would be of great con-
theatre review
cern to us. Also, there seems to be a lack of
concerted effort to bring out the important
characters in the staging. He seems satisfied
to make pretty pictures.
In addition, it seems almost rude to the
audience that the intermissions were filled
with action continuing on the stage. Is one
supposed to sit and watch what is happen
ing or does one miss something if one takes
the intermission in a normal way? Why add
the additional lines to the play? Doesn't
the genius of Chekhov stand by itself?
Daring idea
Like other things that McGraw has
done, the show is an adventurous idea that
does not completely come to fruition.
Bravo for being daring, bu not all dares are
successful.
Some extremely fine acting takes place
in Sea Gull and a few people who have
delighted Lincoln audiences before do their
best again.
Judith Radcliff was stunning as Nina,
the young aspiring actress. Her warmth and
sincerity was touching and it was a pleasure
to see her grow somewhat bitter and con
fused by the last scenes. She has a combin
ation of talents in voice and body that
make her stand out as a special actress.
In a scene where Trigorin comes face to
face with himself as seen by the eyes of the
young Nina, Steve Houser shows the ver
satility and insight to his character.
Difficult characters
Konstantin has difficult psychological
changes during the course of the show. Joe
McNeely was convincing most of the time
but seems to have a tendency to turn off
and on depending on whether he has the
line or not.
Another extremely difficult character
that did not exist in its entirety was that
of Irina, the actress, played by Patricia
Raun. Like other things in the production,
Irina hits one over the head with the lines
instead of allowing the play to be the force
that motivates the audience. Just because
the work has a lack of climax, suspense,
and clear purpose does not mean that one
has to impose such things on it.
Misplaced love is apparent in many of
the characters but never as much as it is
with Polina (Caron Buinis) and Masha
(Deborah Brooks). Polina was appropriate
ly pithetic and Masha well done with sim
plicity and style.
Old men
Sorin (Myron Papich) is another well
created old man by a young actor who
seems to specialize in that kind of charac
ter. The other old men; Shamrayev (James
Mellgren) and Dorn (Eric Sorenson), were
played well and had fully rounded charact
eristics without stereotypes.
Jim Anderson as Medvedenko the
schoolmaster was adequate, but lacking in
the ability to take the stage when he
needed to. The rest of the supporting cast
was good and handled well by the director.
The threatre department has more imag
ination in its technical facets for the studio
shows than it does for the main stage pro
ductions. The set by Alan Donahue was a
good sketch to work with but then the
lighting was unimaginative and did not
add to the set or the costumes.
Too modern
Costumes by Patricia Dennis were well
thought out, but again it seems the ideas
dried up because of so many characters,
and clothes such as Konstantin's in the
opening looked much too modern.
Sound design is not apparent in every
show and for The Sea Gull it was approp
riately used to convey many specific things
in the script. The wind in the last scenes
was nice but could have been less obtru
sive. Sea Gull is an actor's play. It is about
actors, is consistently a challenge for
actors, and sometimes limits the actor's
abilities to use his hard sought after tech
niques because ot its subtleness.
Just as there is probably not a music
school in the country that could do a good
"Othello" there probably is not a threatre
department that can completely do The
Sea Gull. Is this play better left in the class
room? It's almost always a joy to see a
Chekhov play and each time adds a new
insight to the problems and the beauty of
the work. The Howell production of Sea
Gull is a definite plus and gives the viewer
a peak into the intricacies of the difficul
ties as well as the psychological ramifi
cations of being an actor. Sit back and let
the show wash over you, and let it impress
you on its own merit.
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