Arts©Entertainment
Script troubles mess up promising play
By Mark Baldridge
Senior Editor __
The Omaha Magic Theatre is na
tionally known as one of our country ’ s
oldest experimental theaters. It pro
duces the most avant-garde works in
the Midwest, and counts among its
admirers some of the big names in
American experimental theater.
But an experiment, in theater as in
chemistry, yields unpredictable re
sults. Sometimes you produce explo
sions of emotion and meaning —
sometimes just a mess.
The current production of “The
Plucky and Spunky Show,” playing
the next two weekends at the Magic
Theatre, doesn’t make much more
than a mess. A pity, too, because the
play (really a series of short sketches)
promises so much.
A good deal of the trouble seemed
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Susan Nussbaum and Mike Ervin of
Chicago, both of whom suffer from
disabilities that keep them confined
to wheelchairs, the play takes on
society’s altitudes toward the disabled
with wit, insight and cutting irony.
Sometimes.
Like most plays, “Plucky” cries
out for some brave editor with a blue
pencil tocutoul the dead weight. This
says less about the particular play
than it docs about the state of theater
in America: It’s fat and flabby and
needs the exercise. Theater isn’t feel
ing too spunky itself these days.
That’s no excuse of course.
“Spunky” should be better than it is,
but some of the blame has to go to the
production. It was chaos.
Technical problems (a mike that
kept shorting out and sounded like a
bullhorn when it did work) badgered
the troupe. But even when all seemed
to be going as planned, there was no
obvious plan in operation.
Almost every scene lagged. There
seemed to be plenty of energy on
stage, but no focus anywhere.
Director Doug Marr may have been
unused to the production style of the
Magic Theatre, which he described as
a sort of “Zen boot camp.”
He appeared in the play, and threw
himself about the stage with such
energy and zest that it was impossible
HIV-positive men strike, flee world
with humor, ‘Thelma & Louise’ style
Gregg Araki’s “The Living End”
propels its viewer with gut-wrench
ing black humor into the world of two
HIV-positive gay men on the run.
Araki transforms potentially over
whelming and depressing subject
matter into a morosely funny road
movie.The twist here is that what
these men run away from is the un
known, while what they run to is
certain death.
Luke (Mike Dytri) is a hedonist
prone to violence against gay bashers
and authority figures.
Jon (Craig Gilmore) is a prissy
film critic who begins a dive into
Courtesy of October Films
Luke (Mike Dytri) and John (Craig Gilmore) are on the road in
“The Living End.”
depression just betore Luke comes
along.
Luke spray-paints “Fuck the
World” (the film’s original title) on a
wall in the first shot. In the next scene,
a doctor tells Jon he’s HIV-positive
with a snide “sorry.” Thus we see the
essence of the film’s humor.
That night Luke shoots and kills
three skinheads intent on bashing him
with steel baseball bat. In a panic, he
flags down Jon’s car.
The subsequent road movie pro
ceeds like a queer version of “Thelma
and Louise’1 or Fritz Lang’s “You
Only Live Once.”
Opposites Jon and Luke stick to
gether because of their isolation as
HIV-positive people in a paranoid
world.
Jon despairs when Luke aims his
?;un at a traffic cop or fires at a mal
unctioning automatic bank teller,
pleading with him to put the gun
away.
Luke suggests that they drive to the
White House and kill President Bush,
or better yet, “inject him with some of
our blood; I bet by tomorrow they’d
have a cure.” „
Also showing is “Resonance, a
hypnotic short film by Stephen
Cummins about a gay bashing and its
aftermath.
“The Living End” and
“Resonancc”are showing at the Mary
Riepma Ross Theater on Thursday
through Saturday, February 11-13,
and Thursday through Sunday, Feb
ruary 18-21. Showtimes are 7 and 9
p.m. daily, with matinees at 1 and 3
p.m. Saturdays and at 3 and 5 p.m.
Sundays.
—Calvin Clinchard
FILM STUDIES SCHEDULE,
SPRING 1993
“Homicidal,” William Castle’s
classic shock film, involves the
story of an attractive psychotic
nurse, her silent husband, and the
weird house they occupy. It’s show
ing at 1 p.m.Tuesday and3:15p.m.
Wednesday at the Mary Riepma
Ross Film Theater, and 7 p.m. Tues
day at Bessey 117. All film studies
films are free and open to the pub
lic. •
Courtesy of Megan Terry
Doug Marr, Barbara Loper and Krystal Anne Kremla rap in “The Plucky and Spunky Show” last Saturday in Omaha
to be sure whether or not he needed
the Canadian crutches he used.
He docs.
The decision to feature as many
disabled people as possible in the
production was obviously the right
one. A problem is that Nebraska
doesn’t produce a great many dis
abled actors. The production should
have taken the inexperience of the
players into account.
New video releases
range from top-notch
to bad to mediocre
Stinker, clunker, gem — not a
very balanced week for home video,
but, what else is new?
“Death Becomes Her”Suppos
cdly about the dangers of vanity
and immortality, this is a terribly
ineffective comedy.
The innovative special effects
are spoiled by a sorry story line and
the foul stench of terrible
overacting.
All these elements make for an
exceptionally bad picture — espe
cially considering the cast.
Meryl Streep plays a has-been
actress whose youth and good looks
are slipping away from her. Goldie
ning “Who Framed Roger Rab
bit?”
Unfortunately, even the effects
can’t save “Death Becomes Her”
— it’s a stinker.
“Stephen King’s It’’Tclcvision
adaptation of yet another horror
story by the horror king.
John Ritter, Annette O’Toole
and Harry Anderson arc childhood
friends who reunite to fight the
entity that scared the pants off them
as kids.
The nasty baddic is a clown.
Based on the 1986 best seller,
this version looks like a mediocre
TV movie and acts like one. It’s a
wonder King’s books keep making
it to the screen — rarely docs TV or
film do him justice.
“The Waterdance” Partly au
tobiographical, this drama teaches
about learning to live, and love,
after traeedv. And it looks like a
nawii 15 uiuiu, iai
and unatiracti ve, man ied lo plastic
surgeon Bruce Willis, who plays a
nerd and whose trademark smirk is
nowhere to be found.
Streep finally seeks out a youth
serum from Isabella Rossel ini—it
is her back her looks, her tight
and her youth, but there’s a
price.
The script is bad; the acting is
bad; everything is bad. Well, ex
cept for the special effects. They
come courtesy of FX wizard Rob
ert Zemeckis, who dazzled movie
audiences with the visually stun
winner.
Eric Stoltz is a writer who is
paraly/cd in an accident. While in
a rehabilitation hospital, he meets
up with Wesley Snipes, another
paraplegic working to regain some
strength. Helen Hunt is the woman
who helps Stoltz on his road to
recovery.
All titles are available Wednes
day.
—Anne Steyer
