Refunds to be given for canceled concert
To the dismav of many devoted
Stray Cats fans, the band has cancel
ed their scheduled Feb. 16 concert at
UNC. Many tickets had already been
sold to the concert, according to Lin
da Wright, assistant director of the
Carolina Union. "We had sold almost
250 tickets at our box office," Wright
said.
But those who have already pur
chased their tickets in hopes of seeine
the canceled concert may receive a re
fund for their worthless tickets.
According to Wright, the Union
will begin giving refunds today from
noon until 6. The Union will be giving
refunds only to persons who bought
their tickets at the Union. Those who
purchased their tickets at other outlets
will have to contact those places for
refund information.
The Union will be giving refunds
until March 6.
Thursday, February 2, 1984The Daily Tar Heel5
'Dining' a tribute to fading WASPs
By STEVE MURRAY
Staff Writer
In The Dining Room, a play by A.R.
Gurney Jr. being presented by the Actors
Co-op of the Art School, a dining table
dominates the center of the stage, as solid
as a Druidic altar stone.
Like an altar, the table is the focus of
rituals, annual feasts, prayers and feuds.
It is the foundation of a culture
specifically Northeastern establishment
WASPs. And the WASPs, like the
Druids, are a passing society whose dis
integration is detailed with humor and
melodrama in Gurney's comedy.
In two acts, 10 actors portray 54
characters in scenes that range from brief
comic flourishes to longer sketches pep
pered with melancholy.
Review
A senile old woman, not recognizing
her own children at Thanksgiving, insists
on being driven to her long-demolished
home. Extramarital lovers meet over the
din of a child's birthday party. Two
gossiping schoolgirls thrill to an illicit mix
of vodka, gin and Fresca. And Great
aunt Harriet, showing off her china and
finger bowls, finds out that her nephew's
interest is academic: she's the subject of
his anthropology project, a study of the
vanishing WASP ethic.
There are many other scenes, the com
mon denominator being the setting.
Weaving through the play's episodic
structure, each cast member handles from
three to seven different roles. It's a great
chance to demonstrate acting range.
Most adventurous is Tom Marriott,
who endows each of his characters with
uniqueness. He sneaks into his parts so
well that it's hard to recognize him from
scene to scene. He rings hilariously true as
a rubber-faced kid at a birthday party.
But he's just as believable playing a hard
drinking father coming to terms with his
daughter's wrecked marriage.
In that scene the daughter is played by
Elizabeth Shoemaker. Shoemaker's
characterizations are also rich, but not as
wide. Her acting is precise, with a bird
like delicacy recalling Meryl Streep's
style. But beneath her placid exterior
comes the hint of a fiery repression burn
ing away the very legs of the dining room
table. It's a shame more of this doesn't
come out in her performance. r ;'.v
Another fine actress is Carolyn Rashti,
who improved tremendously Friday night
from the first scene, in which the clat
tering of her own high heels overwhelmed
her voice. She plays arthritic servants and
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a palsied dowager grandmother so well
that it is a surprise to see her moving free
ly for the curtain call.
Sharon Pigott, a striking redhead,
holds the stage with the assurance of
Lady Macbeth. But her characters all
seem the same, slightly peevish and emo
tionally insulated. Likewise, Stevens H.
Clarke is first a stolid father, then a stolid
psychiatrist, next a stolid carpenter, and
so on. He's too reserved. V
In contrast is Alfred Dolge, who is
made to look ingratiatingly sleazy. In his
big scene as a man whose brother has
been insulted, he rants (feverishly, nasally
and with flawing arms) about virtue,
honor and integrity. It's a crowd-pleasing
act, but it juts out from the rest of the
play like a cream pie hurled into Hamlet's
face. It's too broadly played for an other
wise moderate comedy.
Also excessive is Bob Lehnberg, who
seems uncomfortable. He tries too hard,
like a toy soldier wound up too tight. If
he eased up a little he would be much bet
ter. Of the remaining cast, Susan I. Camp
bell, Angela F. Cason, and Jon David
Jordan are all fine. The ensemble work is
strong.
Director Sam Crawford deserves ap
plause. The pace of the production is
smooth, transitions are seamless, and the
acting is full of nice details. The only
weakness is in the play itself.
By skimming among 54 characters, iso
lating both their buoyant peaks of fun
and their nuggets of tragedy, playwright
Gurney tries to trigger shocks of recog
nition in each audience member. The
result is like a Reader's Digest approach
to drama. The Dining Room never
engages audience sympathy the way a tra
ditional play, with a smaller cast and a
single linear plotline, can. It doesn't
pierce the heart; it just pokes around.
Also, inherent in the material itself, an
unsavory sense of clannishness flavors the
play. Gurney defeats the purpose of his
tribute to the fading establishment
WASPs. Considering the bluster, confu
sion, and psychological warfare he
. focuses around the dining table, the
decline of the table's significance seems
cause1 not for mourning, but for a great
sigh of relief.
The Dining Room mil be performed at
8 p.m. at the Can Mill Art School
, through Saturday, for, ticket informa
tion, call 929-2896. . J
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Good times and humor characterize 'The Hostage' .
By SHERYL THOMAS
Assistant Arts Editor
The UNC department of dramatic art will present
Brendan Behan's musical play The Hostage through
Sunday and Feb 7-12 at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 pm. in
Paul Green Theatre. '
The Hostage , originally written in Gaelic, tells the
story of a British soldier held as a hostage by the Irish
Republican Army as a reprisal against an Irish youth's
being held by the English. The British soldier, Leslie
(played by Michael Cumpsty), is being held in a very
unusual place- a brothel-among a very motley crew.
Tree O'Halloran, who will be the stage manager for
The Hostage, talked on The Hostage set about the show
itself and her duties as stage manager.
O'Halloran, a junior, dramatic art major, described
her iob as maHns Mire everything gets done a? smoothly
as possible. "I am the link between tech and art," she
said. "I also do the scheduling for all rehearsals, take
notes, write cues, and supervise the sound, lights, and
actors." On the lighter side of things, O'Halloran said
she must also make sure there is light in the actors' dress
ing rooms and enough coffee to make it through .the
night.
After all the production work, . The Hostage finally
goes into performance this evening. "It's a fun play,"
O'Halloran said, "set in a brothel filled with crazies."
The "crazies" who inhabit this brothel run the gamut
of characters. There is Pat (played by Johri Tyson) and
his wife, Meg (played by Wendy Wilson), who run the
brothel. O'Halloran described Pat and Meg as "the
stabilizers of the bunch."
Also inhabiting this den of disrepute is an "eccentric,
Irish patriot," affectionately called "Monsewer,"
played by Michael Connolly. "He still thinks that the oc
cupants are still fighting for independence," O'Halloran
said. "So Pat and Meg humor him with house inspec
tions and food for the "troops."
Despite the humor, serious undercurrents influence
The Hostage. "The discussion (in the brothel) is very
critical of the npv IRA," O'Halloran said. "They talk
about the glory of the wars against the English versus the
new terrorism. It makes a political comment on both the
IRA and the British, saying a hostage in England as well
as one" in Belfast is wrong."
But good times still dominate the scenario, "It is a
musical," O'Halloran said. "The characters break into
song and dance at strange moments."
To set the musical mood, there will be a musical sing
along beginning about 30 minutes before the show starts.
O'Halloran promises an "exciting climax" to the
show. "Cues 70 and on show lots of special effects in the
last act but you'll really have to wait and see them!"
'Silkwood' lacks conviction; Streep versatile
By STEVE CARR
Staff Writer
The best scene in Silkwood comes toward the end of
the movie. The officials at the plutonium plant where
Karen Silkwood works find out that she is internally
contaminated. They send an army of nondescript, space
suited figures to check for radiation in her home.
The figures come barging in. They take all the fur
niture. They peel off all the wallpaper. They put plastic
bags on everything, including pictures of Silkwood's
children. The pictures, along with other small items, are
then thrown into what looks like a trash can.
n Review
The scene registers its impact and rattles every
homowner's sensibilities. It plays upon the suburban
resident's fear of being totally stripped of identity by an
omnipotent-corporation.
Unfortunately, this five- or 10-minute tour de force is
like an island in an otherwise bland and somewhat con
trived eulogy for the real-life anti-nuclear heroine.
What Silkwood really lacks is dramatic bite. The tell
ing of the story is extremely straightforward Karen
Silkwood is, at first, just another fun-loving worker at
the plant; she becomes a better person by embracing a
cause. .
The film portrays its characters in a somewhat super
ficial manner. They are simple folk who just want to
.hang on to their jobs. Except for one or two scenes, the
menacing, frightening aspects of Both the story and peo
ple are never, properly brought out.
Meryl Streep does a fine job in the title role. Part of
the reason she is so impressive, however, is because of
her previous performance in Sophie's Choice. Many ac
tresses could have played Karen Silkwood, but very few
could have played her after starring as a Polish im
migrant. The part is not all that demanding, but it is a
showcase for Streep's versatility.
As her good ole boyfriend, Kurt Russell gives a
characterization that is just a little bland, but he ade
quately portrays a simple man who can't understand
why his lover wants to make all this trouble.
The nicest surprise about Silkwood, however, is Cher.
She plays Silkwood's roommate, Dolly Pelliker, with a
kind of twang in her voice that endears the character and
doesn't mock her.
There are some very nice supporting roles as well, in
cluding Craig T. Nelson (from Poltergeist) and Diana
Scarwid as a mortician who is also Dolly's lesbian lover.
Tess Harper even has a bit part as the wife of Silkwood's
ex-husband. Harper played opposite Robert Duvall in
Tender Mercies.
Mike Nichols' direction is the last word in understate
ment. The main problem, though, lies in Nora Ephron's
and Alice Arlen's script. While there is definite convic
tion from the. actors, the film itself purports to be a
character study, yet ultimately reveals nothing about the
characters.
Silkwood tries self-consciously not to put the blame
on any one character or organization. But in trying to
blur what was really the truth, the film also blurs its
characters. What makes Karen Silkwood become an ac
tivist? Is she just scared, or is this part of her awakening
self-awareness as a woman? What about Dolly Pelliker?
Does she love Silkwood as a friend or as a potential
lover? All of these questions are raised but never discuss
ed. , -
Silkwood can't decide whether to be a character study
of a woman who decides to do something about the very
lax nuclear plant where she works or to be a scathing ex
pose of how the "little people" are manipulated by "the
system."
Silkwood draws from both Norma Rae and The China
Syndrome but lacks the conviction of those films. The
result is a very indifferent film that leaves a very indif
ferent aftertaste.
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