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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1995)
Arts ©Entertainment Thursday, April 13, 1993 Page 9 Scottish legend fights land-leeching lowlife By Jeff Randall Film Critic America, meet Robert Roy MacGregor — hero, legend and family man. In “Rob Roy,” Liam Neeson portrays this legendary figure who lived in 18th century Scotland. And the truth is, he doesn’t do too bad of a job of it. After taking a stab at heroism as Oskar Schindler in 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” Neeson would seem to be well-prepared for this character. But unlike Schindler, whose heroic aspects were shadowed by a series of extramarital affairs and member ship in the Nazi Party, MacGregor was a completely upstanding member of his so ciety. Whether acting as leader and provider for the entire MacGregor clan, loving hus band, caring father or retriever of stolen cattle, Rob Roy managed to retain both his honor and his strength. But this is a movie, after all, so some thing has to go wrong. In this case, that something wrong involves borrowing money from the Marquis de Montrose (John Hurt), a local lord, and being unable to repay the debt when the money is stolen by a pair of the Marquis’ underlings. As a result, the entire MacGregor clan is chased into the hills by the Marquis’ sol diers and Rob Roy is forced to defend not only his family, but also his honor. Fresh from an Oscar-winning perfor ~maneefn 1994’s “Blue Sky,’’Jessica Lange was remarkable as Mary MacGregor, Rob Roy’s wife. She was the picture of quiet courage, standing up to the same struggles The Facts Film: “Rob Roy” Director: Michael Caton-Jones Stars: Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, John Hurt Grade: B+ Five Words: Scottish legend hits big screen. her husband faced in addition to a few more of her own. Although hers was the only strong female role in this film, she man aged to effectively steal the show from the more physically dominant actors in nearly every scene. Lange’s performance was matched only by that of Tim Roth, whose portrayal of the Marquis’ henchman, Archibald Cunningham, was an exercise in absolute evil. Director Michael Caton-Jones, a native Scotsman, spectacularly captured the beauty of the Scottish Highlands, turning the background of this film into another character altogether. And a number of elaborately staged swordfights were, in the eyes of this admittedly novice duelist, flaw less and highly exciting. Although a few scenes in the film reeked of Hollywood’s bone-drenching sentiment, _ particularly the closing one, “Rob Roy” was a thoroughly entertaining cinematic experience and a wonderfully told tale of honor, courage and love. Courtesy of United Artists Liam Neeson stars as the legendary 18th century Scottish highlander, Robert Roy MacGregor, in ,?Rob Roy.” No frills guitarist returns to Lincoln By Melissa Dunne Staff Reporter Chris Proctor doesn ’t need lots of instruments, backup musicians or even vocals to captivate an audience. All Proctor needs is a gui tar. And that’s enough. “Chris is one of the very few gui tarists who can keep you entertained all night with nothing but guitar playing and talking about guitar playing,” saidBill Behmer, presi dent of the Lincoln Association for Traditional Arts Inc. Proctor will perform Friday at 8 pjn. in the basement of the Saint Paul United Church of Christ, 1302 F St. Suggested do nation for the LAFTA-sponsored concert is $5. Behmer said Proctor was pretty much one of the best gui tarists around. “He is recognized as a master fingerpicker,” he said. “He could easily be compared to any master musician.” Proctor’s skill, Behmer said, lies in his ability to create pic tures with words and then trans port his audience through his music to the places described. “It makes for a very interest ing, relaxing evening,” he said. All Proctor’s works are origi nals, varying in style from jazz to folk to classical to Celtic to new age. He specializes in fingerstyle guitar, using his fingers instead of a pick. He also specializes in steel-string guitar as opposed to classical. Although most of his songs are instrumental, he occasionally incorporates vocals. Proctor’s fingerpicking has earned him a U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion ship, second and third places in Frets Magazine’s reader’s poll and a Silver Screen Award for best soundtrack on a commercial short subject. He has five albums and one publication. In addition, he has performed throughout die U.S. and Canada at concert halls, folk and jazz clubs, colleges, festi vals, fairs, artist-in-residence pro grams and master classes. Proctor’s Lincoln perfor mance will be the first LAFTA concert held in the basement of the Saint Paul United Church of Christ. Complete with fireplace, the space resembles a big living room more than a church, Behmer said. “It’s an ideal place for a small event,” he said.. This will be Proctor’s fifth or sixth performance in Lincoln, Behmer said. Each time, he said, audiences came away pleased. “People kept saying, ‘I wouldn’t have thought I could sit all night and listen to guitar,”’ he said. “But they did.” Penal colony play accents quality By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter Before Australia had its own accent, a mixture of Scottish, Irish, French, English and other speech swirled together on this penal colony. This twisting of tongues speaks out in the University Theatre’s performance of “Our Country’s Good” by Timberlake Wertenbaker, directed by Robin McKercher. “Our Country’s Good” features seven dialects and accents includ ing Scottish, Irish, proper English, Cockney, Devonshire, French and the accent of an aboriginal tribes man. The play is based on the true story of the first theatrical produc tion staged in the penal colony of Sydney, Australia, in 1789, and shows the bonding power of art in a community. The accents came from the con victs, officers and spouses on the colony and eventually blended to gether to form today’s Australian accent. The varied accents set a mood and sense of time that an American accent could not achieve, McKercher said. But with such a variety of accents coming out at once, he said, it was a challenge to keep them separated. Some of the actors are taking a special diction and dialect class. Actors also used dialect tapes and books to learn their accents, he said, and a dialect coach was brought in to perfect them and correct any mistakes. The actor’s, Shirley Mason, an assistant theater professor, is a better resource than a dialect tape. A native of England, Mason’s ac "You still need to communicate the story. There’s a fine line to walk ... How correct do I make the dialect without suffering the story’s understanding? ” PATRICK TUTTLE "Our Country’s Good” actor cent is a model some of the actors can follow. Solidifying accents prevents the actor from slipping back into his native speech during an emotional moment, she said. Accent work can be done by ear, she said, but perfection must be done systematically. Actors work on substituting vowel sounds, and in the case of a British accent, work on articulating more in the front of the mouth. Some accents such as Cockney and the Scottish brogue require a guttural sound that emanates from die throat. Actor Jason Richards plays two roles with close accents — one Scottish and one Irish—and has to make sure he distinguishes one from the other. For example, Irish r’s are soft, while Scottish r’s are rolled and hard. This distinction, he said, also came out in his characters. “Ross is a very commanding person. He’s in charge. He’s ruth less and Scottish and very quick, very deep,” he said. “But Ketch is the hangman, and he doesn’t like that. He’s shy and tries to hide it. The women hate him. “The Irish accent lends itself to that. It’s very poetic and musical,” he said. Richards said he practiced with dialect tapes, books and Mason, but he has gone even further. “I’ve been listening to the Cran berries a lot,” he said, laughing and referring to the popular Irish band. Actor Patrick Tuttle had to learn the proper English accent and Cock ney dialect for his roles. Many of the officers have English accents com mon to the upper class, while the convicts have the Cockney dialect common to the. lower class. Tuttle said the proper English accent had a lighter sound that allowed it to be a lighter character, while the convicts’ Cockney was harsher and showed them as darker characters. Slipping out of the accents was not a problem, he said, but making sure the audience could understand him was. “You still need to communi cate the story,” he said. “There’s a fine line to walk... How correct do I make the dialect without suffer ing the story’s understanding?” “Our Country’s Good” will pre mier. tonight at 8 in the Howell Theatre.
