Page 10
Daily Nebraskan
Monday, October 25, 1982
Arts Entertainment
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Photos courtesy of Don Young
Africa thrills safari guide
By Kris Saalfeld
Don Young lives two lives. For 10
months of the year, he coordinates
law-related education for the Nebraska
State Bar Association. During the other
two months, he changes his dress and
environment and becomes a safari
guide in Kenya, Africa.
Young first became interested in
Africa when he traveled there on
Personality
research as a UNL graduate student.
"I spent a year in Kenya, learned
Swahili and went on safari. I literally
got hooked. When I came back, I felt
something wasn't right. I knew I needed
to return," he said.
So Young started a business of his
own, coordinating and leading two
week trips to Africa.
"I especially appeal to young people,
professors and students, because the
trip is at an affordable price," he said.
"I've sold out every year since I began."
In Africa, Young said, people can
see and be a part of nature at its best.
"On any day, well run across ele-
fhants, rhinos, hippos, monkey, ante
ope, aardvarks, zebras, giraffes and
lions. We've watched 70 huge elephants
nursing their young, with no barriers
between us except the land. And we've
watched a cheetah stalk her prey," he
said.
Many of Young's experiences have
been happy. He once traveled with
George Adamson, of "Born Free" fame,
to find some of the full-grown cubs
that had been set free.
"Imagine tracking 6-foot-long, 400
pound killer tigers and finding the
remains of their kill from the night
before. I was scared," Young said.
"But when they saw George, they ran
to him and licked his face. Then they
fell asleep, purring at his feet."
Some of Young's experiences haven't
been so happy.
"Last.spring, we were sitting by the
side of a flooded river, when the wilde
beests came galloping mindlessly toward
it. Each spring, they migrate to greener
pastures. As we watched, the animals
tried to cross the river. For two hours,
we watched wildebeests being swept
away by the flood. Only a few made
it across. Then the vultures, with their
4- to 5-foot wingspan, began to circle
the area," he said.
Before he traveled to Africa, Young
hadn't touched a camera. Now, he
said he loves photography and takes
many pictures during his trips. His
work has been published, and he has
appeared on television.
Young said no one leaves Africa
the same as he or she enters it. He
says Africa is an ultimate thrill.
"I've been charged by elephants
and rhinos in Africa, but that's the
thrill of it," he said. 'The thrill is to
be there. The thrill is the threat of
life."
Vv
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'Dracula' still intriguing
By David Thompson
Who knows what motivated David
Richmond and UNL graduate Bob Hall to
rewrite "Dracula," one of the most popular
stories of all time. Did they think they
could improve upon all the other versions
of Bram Stoker's myth? Did they just want
to make money on the same old bankable
plot?
Whatever their reasons; the UNL
Theater Department's current production
of their play "The Passion of Dracula" is
Theater
Review
an interesting one and the story still
manages to arouse an audience. This script
is interesting in that it emphasized the
more complex aspects of the situation that
have been overlooked .by blood-and-guts
productions.
Dracula is not seen as the "I vant to
drink you blood" ghoulie that Bela Lugosi
made famous, or as the toothy Don Juan
that Frank Langella made him out to be.
Instead, he is a man who has lived for
centuries with a habit he can't seem to
quit, "driven by the loneliness of immor
tality." He is a scholar of English folklore, a
man who seeks to tempt people and draw
them away from the Christian faith they
hold dear, into the mists of icy immortal
ity. He is powerful because he doesn't
take hold of minds, but of hearts. As he
says to one cross-waving doctor, "You say
I prey upon the helpless, while the helpless
run to me. . .Desire is everything."
Christopher Darga's performance as
Dracula is well done, although it doesn't
deviate too far from any of the other
Draculas we've seen. His facial features and
his stage presence befit the classy aloofness
of the character.
When the doors swing open and he
floats in on wisps of smoke, he maintains
the dignity of the character without slip
ping into parody. Lovers of superstition
and ritual suspend disbelief when he says
he has felt "the dark winds on the edge of
time."
The other characters also embody impli
cations beyond the simple case of a blood
sucking count. Wilhelmina, played, by
Susan Garrett, senses the loneliness of a
man who is the last of his species. When
the other characters plan Dracula's death,
she says, "You must pity him or commit
plain murder."
The rest of the cast are all given their
chances to ponder the situation. There is
a Freudian psychiatrist who meets Dracula
and says, "I should like to psychoanalyze
him." There is bug-eating Renfiled,
Dracula's starignt man, who has "studied
with the Master."
The other characters all bustle about
with garlic and crosses, trying to save
Christianity from the devilish messiah who
hovers in their midst. There is something
fascinating about a man screaming, "The
Lord God is King" in hopes of rebelling
against a being that pulls on his darker
desires. Aside from a few problems with
thick accents and slow pacing,the charac
ters reach a little beyond the drab personal
tities of the period.
CM. Zuby has designed a Jacobean
manor that frames the goings-on quite well.
There are arches, swords hanging on the
wall, a stuffed owl, in fact, everything but
cobwebs to create the atmosphere. The
special effects of the show feature guns,
bats, exploding lamps, flaming crosses
and even a mouse that misses being a meal.
The problem is that audiences of the
'80s, numbed on E.T. and Pac-Man, have a
hard time marveling at such games. The last
scene of the second act is a sort of gothic
OK Corral, with the action staged quickly
and cleanly. But instead of provoking the
gasps intended, laughs are heard rising from
the audience tempered on Galactic gun
fights. Perhaps no one cares if the melo
drama isn't granted any seriousness, but it
does take some of the fun out of it.
The authors have modernized the script
a bit by throwing in enough cultural
references for any dilettante to rationalize,
the fact that he or she likes good old
fashioned harem skarem. William Blake,
Hieronymus Bosch, Charles. Dickens,
Alfred Tennyson, Christopher Marlowe
and a reference to the English educational
system are all thrown in, all with extensive
Bible readings.
Sometimes it's a bit much, but we don't
mind because it's all part of the fun, even
when the final shaft of light shoots down
from the heavens and the doctor says,
"It is finished."
We joke about a rainbow appearing in
the sky and wouldn't be at all surprised if
it did. It's not Eugene Oeill or Arthur
Miller, but for a foray into the past, "The
Passion of Dracula" will do just fine.
Disorganization beast tamed
Ever since I was a little
kid, I knew that the world
was divided into two types
of people. There were the
clean, organized, efficient
ones. Then there were the
slobs. At age five, I found
myself in the second
category.
Although my parents
sent me off every morning
immaculately groomed, I in
variably returned much the
recess. I'd have found a way
to spill them, of course.
All during grade school, I
went through sporadic
periods of reform, during
which I tried to clean my
self up, organize my time
and behave like a real live
human being. But like an
uniformed drunkard, I
kepi falling off the wagon.
By binding myself to a
worse for wear. It would
have been different if I'd
tried to get dirty like the
boys (girls were expected to
share in the general Ameri
can terror of grime), but no
matter how hard I tried to
stay neat, it never worked.
Dirt just seemed to follow
me around.
It was then that I acquir
ed my first complex. Not
only were my parents and
teachers in despair over my
appearance, but my peer
group also disapproved. I'm
still hurt by the girls re
fusal to share their "Playnts
don't spill paint kits during
Mary Louise
ivnapp
strict schedule and a
regimen of daily baths, I
made it through the perilous
junior high years. Being
organized was fairly easy,
since I had no social life to
disrupt my schedule. Being
well-groomed was also easy,
because I was trying to
acquire a social life.
With high school came
additional activities, and,
yes, even some friends.
Three years of efficient,
sober cleanliness had paid
off.
The specter of slobbery
was not to be so easily con
quered, however. Within
two weeks, my locker was
bulging with papers and
half-eaten lunches; my
pockets were torn out and
ball-point pen marks dotted
my best blouses. I started
showing up late for classes.
Homework did not always
get done. Play rehearsals
started without me.
By the time I was a
senior, I had degenerated
into a worse slob than I'd
ever been before. I rarely
attended what few classes I
had and spent the ill-gotten
free time racing my Corvair
or sipping beer in the park
ing lot with other male
factors. (It's been a few
years, Mom, now the story
can be told.)
It came to pass that I
entered college, full of
determination to kill the
hydra-headed beast of dis
organization, once and for
all. The good intentions
have remained to this day,
but the will to carry them
out was weak and has
crumbled under the stress of
parties and school activities.
But from now on, things are
going to get don on time. I
swear it. This column is
coming in a day- early.