Arts & Entertainment
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David Badders/DN
iDracula sinks teeth into Lincoln
ly Michael stock
enior Reporter
Halloween bites. Especially this
lonth at the Lincoln Community
layhousc.
David Richmond and Bob Hall arc
e men responsible for “The Passion
' Dracula, a dramatic introduction
i a 1911 incarnation of legend’s
reatest bloodsucker.
“The Passion of Dracula” was
jrformed 714 times in nearly two
iars in New York, London, Johan
csburg and San Francisco. This year’s
crformancc afforded Hall, interim
rtistic director at the Lincoln Com
mniiy Playhouse and artistic dircc
>r of the Nebraska Repertory Thc
Lre, his first opportunity to direct the
lay in 10 years.
It is worth the wail.
Set in England in the Autumn of
911, the entire production is bound
) the study of Dr. Cedric Seward,
he story revolves around his niece
^ilhelmina (Melissa Lewis) and the
Lrange schizophrenic disease that she
as been struck with. Wilhclmina is
in love wiin a roving London reporter
Jonathon Harker, played by Tim
Vandcrberghe.
The strange anemic qualities of
Wilhclmina’s malady are soon ex
plained by the presence of a certain
neighbor named Count Dracula (by
Vincent T. Learned).
Of course no Dracula talc is com
plete without the inclusion of a Dr.
Van Hclsing. Lee Schoonover in his
role as Van Hclsing provides the best
performance of the troupe with his
hollow and ancient voice.
Schoonover’s characterization is
charming, endearing and entirely fit
ting for the Dracula tradition.
The crowd favorite was the show
stealing, screaming, insect-eating
Renficld, played masterfully by Scott
R. Glen, who bears a striking resem
blance to silver-screen actor Thomas
Mitchell (“Mr. Smith Goes to Wash
ington”) — with heightened eccen
tricities. He chases bugs, pets mice
and screams at himself and invisible
others.
What else could you ask for in
comic relief?
The only questionable point in the
play was Dracula himself. He seems a
bit young, and not quite dark enough.
The script’s humorous treatment of
some weii-umcu lines duiius ms
character well, but at times he is not
as threatening as Bram Stoker’sorigi
nal legend promises. He does, how
ever, have just as much magic and
magnetism.
Much of the melodrama is deliv
ered in a tongue-in-cheek fashion with
near-expert timing. This tends to be
the strongest point of the play. Even
the shock value that Dracula’s char
acter demands is treated strikingly,
tastefully and, at times, even comi
cally. The fact that not even Dracula
is devoid of wit makes “The Passion
of Dracula” pointed and a dramatic
success.
Performances of “The Passion of
Dracula” will continue Thursday
through Saturday and Oct. 30-31 at
8:00 p.m., plus a show Sunday at 2:30
p.m.
Adult tickets for Oct. 30 and 31 are
SI 1, the same price as regular Thurs
day and Sunday performances. Fri
day and Saturday performances arc
SI3. Student tickets arc half-price.
Tickets are available at the box
office, which isopen 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday and noon to 4
p.m. Saturdays during performance
runs and 90 minutes before each per
formance.
Great week has comedy,
thriller, courtroom drama
By Anne Steyer
Staff Reporter
This week shows promise as some
of the year’s bcstcomc to home video.
Video stores will have in stock a great
comedy, an excellent thriller and a
solid courtroom drama.
“Defending Your Life’v(PG) Close
your eyes and imagine the afterlife in
the waiting room between heaven and
hell. If it’s an all-white, mall-likccity
that resembles a theme park, you arc
seeing Judgment City.
Judgment City is the setting for
Albert Brooks’ (“Lost in America”)
latest comedy. His character has re
cently been separated from his new
red BMW by a large bus and finds
himself awaiting judgment by the court
of the afterlife.
in Brooks him, the choice is not a
matter of heaven or hell. Moving on
to heaven requires living a lifetime of
courageous moments. Many of the
funniest scenes come from moments
in Brooks’ life. His defense of them
and his reactions to seeing them years
later arc hilarious.
Meryl Streep (“Out of Africa”) co
stars as another dead traveler, staying
at Judgment City awaiting “trial.”
Even people who arc not Streep fans
will enjoy her performance here. She
is much more relaxed than in her
other films and it’s easy to see why
Brooks falls for her.
Brooks is a very funny, very dry
comedian. He is a yuppie’s Woody
Allen, making really painful situations
funny. He has the insecure schtick
down pal.
Likewise, the film pokes fun at the
insecurities and seriousness of life.
This is definitely worth viewing.
(Available today)
“Silence of the Lambs” (R) Di
rector Jonathan Demme’s (“Some
thing Wild”) taut thriller is one of the
best to come to the screen in a long
time.
The story centers on young FBI
agent-in-training Clarice Starling (Jodi
Foster of “The Accused”), who is
assigned her first case. Her lask in
volves getting information on a con
victed serial killer in order to assist
the FBI search for “Buffalo Bill,” an
illusive murderer with a grisly method
of operation — he skins his victims.
To obtain the much needed psy
chological profile, Starling is sent to
talk with imprisoned psychiatrist Dr.
Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lcctcr
(Anthony Hopkins).
The story is based on a book by
Thomas Harris, whose previous novel
“Red Dragon” was adapted to the
screen as “Manhunter.” Harris has a
talent for weaving a talc so well that
the reader becomes part of the story,
jumping at every turn.
Demme manages to recreate the
same suspense; every shot is filled
with tension. The acting also is su
perb. Foster and Hopkins both are
likely candidates for Oscar nomina
tions. (Available Thursday)
i^iavs ciion ucne nacx
man (“Hoosicrs”) and Mary Eliza
beth Mastrantonio (“Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves”) star as a father
and daughter who arc trial attorneys.
Jedediah Ward (Hackman) is a
lawyer who lights for the “common
people.” Margaret Ward (Mastran
lonio) is a fierce corporate attorney
who represents one large company in
its legal matters.
They take opposite sides of the
courtroom when Margaret’s company
is involved in a class action suit re
garding an automobile it makes. The
car is part of a number of suspicious
explosions and collisions.
The film, though centering on the
ease, confronts Margaret’s loyalty to
her career and her loyalty to her fa
ther and to justice.
Excellent acting by the leads and a
gripping story make for two hours
well spent. (Available Thursday)
Also this week: “The Simpson’s
Christmas Special” will arrive Thurs
day. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and
Maggie lampoon traditional Christ
mas activities with the usual Malt
Grocning touch.
Poetry readings
set for this week
By Bryan Peterson
Senior Editor
Several area poets will read selec
tions from their works this week.
Two University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln assistant professors of English
will give a reading of their poetry
tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Mill, 800
PSt.
Elizabeth Weber has won two
Academy of American Poets College
Awards and is the author of “Small
Mercies,” available from Owl Creek
Press.
Susan Whitmore, nominated this
year for a Dewar’s Profiles in the
Performing Arts Award, is the author
of “The Invisible Woman,” recently
published by Singular Speech Press,
and “The Sacrifices,” forthcoming
from Mellon Poetry Press.
The free reading is titled “The
Cage of the Body is a Burning House.”
Friday at 3:*0 p.m., Larry Levis
will read selections from his poetry in
228 Andrews Hall.
Helen Crosswait will give a read
ing of “Riot in a Parrot Shoppe and
Other Eruptions” at 7:30 p.m. Friday
at The Mill.
The readings at The Mill are not
part of an official scries of readings,
although The Mill has hosted a num
ber of prior readings, including a recent
one in which people read from banned
or formerly banned books. The read
ing was followed by a silent auction
of the books.
Coffeehouse tripe dangerous
Maybe it’s just something about
the place that turns people’s brains
to jelly. Not jelly really, but some
kind of soup. I don’t know what
causes it, but you can hear some
really dumb things in a coffee
house.
It’s true that any dumb state
ment is made dumber in direct
proportion to how smart it’s sup
posed to sound. Take the above
sentence as an example. It’s pretty
dim sounding already, but can be
made still less clever if you say,
for instance, “Plato said that any
dumb statement...” Other names
may be dropped in for more spec
tacular results. I leave the proof of
this as an exercise for the student.
The point being that people arc,
for some reason, a lot more likely
to tag on the name of Plato (or
Freud, or Jung [pronounced
“Jung”]) to their own opinions if
they have a cappuccino in front of
them.
Just yesterday a guy in my local
Casa dc Caf6 asked me if I agreed
with Ayn Rand’s assumption that
the artist acts as a barometer of the
philosophical climate of the age.
If I’d have been in a bar, I would
have punched him in the face.
“Did you hear what he said to
me?” I would have shouted.
And those near me would’ve
borne me out that he was asking
for it.
But since I was in a coffeehouse
at the time I had to pretend I didn’t
hear. I knew if I said anything at
all, the next moment would find us
at each other’s throats over a word
like “aesthetics.” Or swooning over
Nietzsche’s eternal return. I mean,
why should 1 care if he ever comes
back?
Mark
Baldridge
It’s really loo bad, if you like
expensive coffee, that you have to
listen to such tripe to gel it.
Maybe the best thing to do is
make a game of it. Literally. Take
a friend along and distribute points
for correcting each other’s pronun
ciation. Pretend to speak French
and get in a big outrageous fight:
“Ah wahnl zc monicc, you shccp
skahtc!” Why pretend you’ve read
the books you’re talking about when
you can invent the books from
scratch? You’ll paraphrase passages
from Freud’s “The Interpretation
ofPanly Lines” or R. Buckminster
Fuller’s “User’s Manual For Space
Ship Earth” chapter on ejection
seals.
While those around you wow
each other playing Go or chess,
you’ll be playing Strip Krahnk, a
2,000-year-old game from Atlan
tis. You’ll be sure to draw an
admiring crowd as long as you
don’t say or do anything in the
least that is sensible or straight
forward.
The only problem is the seduc
tiveness of it all. It’s so easy to
play along, you may find, in time,
that you’ve come to believe your
own hype. It’s a real danger.
But what can you do? You can
always sit around with a cup of
Sanka at home. If anyone says
anything dumb there, it’ll be you,
and most likely you won’t be
impressed. Or you can jive up the
java altogether. And take up, what,
heroin? I mean, you’ve got to get
those nerves tangled somehow, and
you’re sure not getting enough
sex, right? Besides, where else
can you meet so many people out
side an alcoholic haze?
You can try some kind of lead
suit, if you want. But I don’t think
it’ll do you much good. And it
may be that the only reliable de
fense against the Coffeehouse
Effect is to allow yourself to go
slowly mad. Or very quickly deaf.
Baldridge is a senior English major
and Daily Nebraskan A&E columnist
I
Mould stuns
Omaha crowd
By Michael Stock
Senior Reporter
Bob Mould has stripped down his
sound to the hare elements of 12 strings’
worth of guitar and lyrics.
Monday night, Mould arrived in
Omaha to stun the Ranch Bowl audi
ence into gape-mouthed awe.
Past, present and future were rolled
into nearly an hour and 45 minute
show, featuring early Hiisker DU tunes,
as well as tracks from his 1989 solo
debut, “Workbook,” last year’s “Black
Sheets of Rain” and five new tracks.
New tracks, “Can’t Fight It,” “Try
It Again,” and “Standing On The
Edge,” not only rivaled any of Mould’s
previous solo material, but emanate
the intensity that no band has cap
tured since Huskcr Du’s demise in
1987. Powered by a 12-string acous
tic guitar, the new tracks featured the
tell-tale Mould melancholy lyrics
mingled with overpowering, positive
chords.
The songs from “Workbook” were
clearer and more pure than ever, lent
new definition by the simplicity and
clarity of Mould’s acoustic show.
“Wishing Well” and “Poison Years”
were more up-tempo than their origi
See MOULD on 10