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Monday, March 17, 1986
Page 14
Daily Nebraskan
By Ad Hudler
Editorial Page Editor
Lise Olsen
Senior Reporter
If you like Neil Simon's plays,
you'll like "Relatively Speaking"
the current offering at the Fire
house Dinner Theatre at 11th and
Jackson streets in Omaha's Old
Market.
The play, by Alan Ayckbourn,
revolves around a series of misun
derstandings about relationship!)
and interrelationships between two
couples.
Theater Preview
The plot focuses on two couples:
Greg and Ginney (Ray Wills and
Barbara Chase) and Phillip and
Sheila (Julian Barnes and Betty
Jinette.)
Greg and Ginny decide to get
married. Greg then finds an address
which he questions Ginny about.
She tells him it's her parents'
address, and Greg goes to the house
to ask for their daughter's hand in
marriage. But the address is really
that of Phillip, Ginny's former lover.
The jig could have been up but
Phillip fits the fatherly image and
the confusion continues.
After the somewhat long intro
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Thursday: Lunch Cats with Muskrats
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duction the Simonish humor begins
to take hold on the audience as the
characters get more and more mixed
up. No one on stage seems to know
what's going on or who's who. Each
character is relatively helpless. All
are confused and pretend every
thing is "normal." Part of the story's
success is that the audience feels
somewhat superior, watching the
bumbling on stage.
Playwright Ayckbourn, who's nick
named the "Neil Simon of Great Bri
tain" makes little attempt at ana
lyzing lives or providing insights
which makes for a light evening.
"1 wrote this play simply to make
people laugh," Ayckbourn wrote.
The only problem with the comedy
is that it requires a lot of concentra
tion. The settings and costuming
change very little and speechs are
conversational and indirect.
However, after the audience mem
bers become oriented to the play's
humor and style, the entanglements
are intriguing and hold the viewers'
interest right up to the ending,
which comes surprisingly quickly.
All four actors bring impressive
credentials to the Omaha stage, and
set the proper tone for the "Simon
ish" scenes and action. Ray Wills,
currently living in Omaha, is from
Los Angeles. His credits include
P.M. Magazine. Barbara Chase, a
New York native, has acted in "The
Brady Bunch," "Ryan's Hope," "Nine-
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To-Five" and "General Hospital."
Julian Barnes, from London, has
acted in Shakespeare's "Richard
the Second" and in Agatha Chris
tie's "Ten Little Indians," among
others.
Betty Jinnette, of the Waltons,
has also made soap opera appear
ances and has starred in roles in
regional theaters throughout the
country.
Although all the actors fit the
play, Jinnette was probably the
most intrigued of the quartet and
the most sympathetic character.
Jinnette previously played "Sheila"
in a Los Angeles production of "Rel
atively Speaking."
All four adopted fairly convincing
Engligh accents, and seemed to
retain that English pomposity Ameri
cans expect to see, even in the rid
iculous situations.
"Relatively Speaking" will be
featured at the Firehouse through
May 4. Ticket prices vary for differ
ent times and nights.
As usual, the Firehouse Brigade
did a fine job of putting the audience
in the right mood for the main
event.
The Firehouse theatre setting,
which is arranged on three sides of
the stage, provides the proper inti
mate atmosphere.
Dessert and drinks also compli
ment the show. We lose our hearts
to the "Amaretto Pie."
Disintegration comes easily;
the problem is reintegration
NUCLEAR from Page 13
herence about fires in the sky over
Kansas, E and MC squared and spirit
ual apocalypse.
Donahue's moderate housewife
approach would make them wish they
were floating in the stratosphere in a
million pieces just like the cat.
We wonder a lot on the subjects of
what's become of art, the "real" paint
and
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ers, the old songs, the great sympho
nies, the big bands and movies like
"Casablanca." Where are the Beethov
ens, we ask, and the Bachs and the
Keats' and the Shelleys and Byrons and
Michelangelos.
And like Lot's wife we can't turn
around because of the blaze of tech
nicolor in our wake.
If Beethoven were alive today, he'd
be writing songs for Black Flag. "Casa
blanca" is pretty, but "Halloween" has
TH 5TnE VS.
fAYRAN FOR THE
Professor gives recital
Harvey Hinshaw, UNL professor of
harpsichord and piano, will present a
faculty recital tonight at 8 p.m. in the
Wick Alumni Center, 1520 R Street.
3 cf t!:ity
CELEOHATIOiJ
1SS3 Marks ttw 100th Armrvenvy
ttw &stu of Liberty. TW j mmnt
mis publicity and ckW 4tlt of
July Cetebratlon. Our uthntlc np
lica pictured hwt ttanda 11 inches
i. AcirvKa twitcn and its torch
8eWa up and pttys (ha ncfionat artham.
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A PERFECT GIFT!
SEND $9.95, CHECK OR
MONEY ORDER:
of I A
Courtesy of Firehouse Dinner Theatre
Jinnette
our paranoia down for posterity.
The bomb is the hockey mask wait
ing in the back seat of the car with a
scythe. The bomb is a Black Flag song.
We're sweating under the tension of
something here. We accuse the toy
makers and the violent cartoons. We
accuse the music and this secret society
of witches in our high schools.
We'll disintegrate perfectly. It's the
reintegration that's a bitch. Go ask
Andre.
1
71
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Hinshaw, who has studied with Igor
Kipnis and other renowned harpsi
chordists, instituted the harpsichord
program at UNL in 1975.
We're Celebrating...
' Hard Shell Tacos:
& Bean Burritosor J
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BDSC3
At all Lincoln locations
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Sa. K it
Ecx 1C34, Uncola, UE eSS01
