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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1994)
Nebraskan Thursday, April 14,1994 Arts©Entertainment J—I—I—I—Il 1 « « James Mehsling/DN Moms to battle in play By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter A child is neglected by its mother and is thrust upon another woman who cares for it, loves it and raises it over time. Several years later, the biological mother, a wicked woman, demands the return of her child. Sounds like headlines from a recent court case, but it’s not. It’s the theme of a play called “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” by German play wright Bertolt Brecht. The play is being per formed at Howell Theatre this weekend. Brecht’s play, set in the Russian province of Georgia more than 700 years ago, is an age-old tale questioning the justice ofownership rights, which remains an issue today. Director Ronald Wainscott said the play raised the question, “Can people con trol people?” “Does your child belong to you because it came from your body, or does it belong to whoever will take care of it better?” he said. “It all ties up into economic issues and can be elevated to governmental levels.” The play focuses on a meager kitchen maid, Grusha(Joan Korte), who, in a time of crisis, is given this child to protect, because the biologi cal mother was too busy worrying about saving her possessions to rescue her child. Grusha raises the child and comes to love it. When the biological mother comes back and demands her child, the battle begins. A trial, overseen by a pseudo-judge, Azdak (Mike Solomonson), is held to determine who the rightful mother should be. Korte focuses on her character’s emotional life by trying to make it as real as possible, she said. “I remember reading the script and coming across one particular speech and thinking, ‘Whoa, that’s going to be a roller coaster ride. That’s not something I can logically figure out; it’s something I’m just going to have to do,”’ Korte said. “And that’s not always easy.” Kortc said she was motivated by what her character wanted most — her child. “I want my child back, and they’re telling me I can’t have it,” she said. “I might die.” Knowing several friends who have adopted or given up children has helped Korte relate to her character. Although on the surface level, the play tells the story of a custody battle, Wainscott said that on a deeper level, it touched Brecht’s analysis of communism. “Brecht was an idealistic communist,” he said. “(His plays) make perfect sense as a reac tion against H itler and the Nazis. They resonate with problems of that very time, the ’40s and ’50s.” Wainscott said the play held even more significance today. “Now, with the supposed fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, this play has a lot of resonance it didn’t have be fore,” he said. Thcscdark societal issues, which could make the play cold and alienated, are often overshad owed by a lighter comic action, Wainscott said. “When you describe what’s there, it sounds like a hairy play,” he said. “It has a happy ending. If suplifting. If s underscored bymusic played by actors on stage.” “TheCaucasianChalk Circle” will premiere tonight at Howell Theatre at 8 p.m. Perfor mances will run at 8 p.m. on Friday and Satur day and on April 19-21. There also will be 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. performances on April 23. Tickets are $9 for adults and $6 for students. Shakespeare Day to feature old, new styles By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter The modern is pitted against the traditional for Shakespeare’s birth day bash today sponsored by the En glish honorary Sigma Tau Delta. The 1994 Shakespeare Day Cel ebration will mix Stone Temple Pilots and Shakespeare for the fifth annual Sonnet Reading Marathon, and then the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express will perform “Much Ado About Noth ing” in traditional style. Stephen Buhlcr, faculty adviser for SigmaTau Delta, said the sonnet read ings would center on performing the famous bard’s sequential readings in traditional or original style. “The past performances have in cluded people reading sonnets while standing on their heads,” he said. “People this year arc going to do a kind of chorale approach with some I ines in unison, some lines as a group.” This year’s performance also will include an attempt by Buhler to set sonnet 116,“Marriage ofTrucMinds,” to the Stone Temple Pilots song “Plush,” entitled “Plovc.” “There is still a tendency to sec Shakespeare as boring and not a lot of fun,” he said. “This allows the oppor tunity to play with Shakespeare and to sec other folks doing it all for the good.” Presenting Shakespeare in a public forum is often difficult, Buhler said. “It helps people in the process of feeling they can approach Shakespeare on their own and get more from the text.” he said. Anybody is allowed to sign up for the event and everybody is encour aged to come and watch, Buhler said. Following the marathon, the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, a traveling group of young performers based in Harrisonburg, Va., will present their rendition of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” Jim Warren, managing director of the traveling group, said the group’s approach to Shakespeare was ironi cally unique, because it was more than 400 years old. The contemporary approach to S hakespeare uses electric lighting and elaborate sets and places the audience far away from the actors, he said, uni ike the way Shakespeare was origi nally performed. “I think the thing you notice first is that we are trying to perform the plays with the same theatrical conditions, and limitations, Shakespeare wrote them for,” he said. He said Shakespeare used natural light, placed the audience close to the stage and refrained from using elabo rate sets or costumes. Another aspect oforiginal Shakespeare was perform ing toward the audience, Warren said. “Shakespeare also had a smal 1 com pany, no more than 15 people, with actors usually playing more than one role,” he said. “It was a kind of theater that was the theater of the imagina tion.” Instead of dimming the lights to signify nighttime, the actors had to act it, he said, relying on the audience’s imagination and the actors’ ingenu ity. In Shakespeare’s time, the actors dressed in contemporary clothes in stead ofh istorical lyaccuratc costumes, Warren said. He said the actors in his group did the same by wearing Bugle Boy pants and turtlenecks instead of Elizabethan attire. By taking this approach, he hoped the actors would dispel any Shakespeare stereotypes. These origi nated when Shakespeare was intro duced in the public school system as a great literary genius that students had to read because it was good for them, “sort oflike spinach,” Warren said. “I don’t think most young people think Shakespeare is ‘Wow, that’s fun,”’ he said. “Even good school systems make Shakespeare into this cultural icon and not a cool guy who wrote plays that talk about the human experience.” The sonnets will be performed in 229 Andrews Hall from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Admission is free. “Much Ado About Not hi ng” wi U be performed in the main hall of the Wick Alumni Center at 8 p.m. Film cuts cheesy flicks to pieces Comedy Central show hits big screen in Lincoln Tuesday night more than 294 UNL students 1 ined up outside the Mary Riepma Ross Theater for free cheese. No, not the government surplus kind. They came to see a free screening of “Mys tery Science Theater 3000,” the Comedy Cen tral TV showthat takes cheesy movies and “cuts them to pieces.” “Free Cheese—The T ou r” was concc i ved i n response to hundreds of phone calls Comedy Central received from students across the coun try. The tour, with stops at 25 colleges through out the United States, features a special episode of “MST 3000.” The tour began in March and will conclude this month. “MST 3000” stars M ike Nelson as a lab temp marooned in outer space by mad scientists who are using him in an experiment to test the effect of cheesy movies on the human species. Silhou etted in the lower right-hand comer of the TV screen, Mike and ms robot pals I om 5>ervo and Crow make wisecracks about the movies they — and the “MST 3000” viewers — are forced to watch every week. The movies arc usually low-budget monster (licks from the late ’50s and early ’60s. The “MST” versions usually go somethinglike this: SCIENTIST: “You’ve heard of Loch Ness, , haven’t you?” POLICE DETECTIVE: “Yes, it’s a lake in . Scotland.” SCIENTIST: “And the Lock Ness Mon- | ster?” CROW (The cynical “MST 3000” robot made out of a lacrosse helmet, a bowling pin and assorted tuppcrwarc pieces): “That would be a monster in a lake in Scotland.” Tucsday’sexperiment featured the 1987 Hoi- I lywood bomb “The Outlaw,” starring “the very . huggable”Jack Palancc.Thc film, described by « Mikcas“brcaslical-boobical-chcstical-groovical | fun,” is a wonderfully awful mix of scantily clad women, phony fight scenes, cheesy dialogue j and an almost nonexistent plot. “The Outlaw” was originally designed to be • a serious adventure flick, but it just turned out so bad that one couldn’t help but laugh at it. I And with the help of Mike, Tom and Crow, it became downright hysterical. — Todd Ellington Week of April 11-April 15 fen years ago this week: Concerts Billy Joel performed live at Bob Devaney Sports Center on April 9th--"From A 3lano Man To An Innocent Man." The 16-song show closed with 3 encores. Movies Jonathan Demme's "Swing Shift," starring Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn, jlayed at the Cinema Twin. "Moscow on the Hudson," starring Robin A/illiams, played at the Cinema Twin. rwenty years ago this week: Concerts Grammy Award nominee Jimmy Martin )f the Sunny Mountain Boys played live it the East Campus Union on April 12th~voted "Bluegrass Entertainer of the Year." Thirty years ago this week: Movies -"Man's Favorite Sport," starring Rock Hudson, played at the Stuart Theater. -"Shock Treatment," starring Stuart Whitman, played at the Nebraska Theater. -Compiled by Steven Sparling Kai Wilken/DN