4The Daily Tar HeelMonday, October 29, 1990
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Beckett's 'Endgame':
l-Along with hang-gliding, good sex
and escargots, everyone should experi
ence Samuel Beckett at some point in
his or her life. The Lab Theatre's pro
duction of "Endgame" is a good op
portunity. 'The play is warped, bizarre, surreal
arid total nonsense. Yet something about
it leaves the audience speechless, unable
to voice any thoughts or objections. It's
not", a play about thought; it's a play
about feeling, not emotion, but the
sensations these characters give to the
audience.
..'oThe time is the end of the world and
the place is anywhere. The action
evolves in the minds of the two main
characters, Hamm and Clov.
-' Debbie Morrison, who directed "The
ICome See Us &
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Mondy Lamb
Bald Soprano" for Lab Theatre in 1 989,
returns to the Lab to give her interpreta
tion of "Endgame." Morrison, a senior
speech communication and psychology
major from Greenville, said the most
challenging aspect of the play was the
text itself. "Beckett is very difficult in
the sense that he is of f in h is Own world,"
she said. "A lot of things (about Beckett)
are hard to understand."
Everything about this play is hard to
understand if you take it too seriously or
try to draw too much meaning out of the
jumble of nonsense. The play is full of
paradoxes. Hamm and Clov both love
and hate each other. They want to die,
but are still desperately trying to find
things that make their lives worth liv
ing. "The play is about tension because
they have to be together and care for
each other even though they are total
opposites," Morrison said. "The two
characters need each other to exist."
Throughout the play Hamm and Clov
are play ing mindgames, with each other
and with themselves, waiting for their
existence to end.
Beckett originally cast the two leading
roles as men, but Morrison decided to
cast them as women.
ran
re
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right up there with escargots and
Aside from the fact that this is Beckett,
another reason to see this play is Laurie
Williams, who is outstanding in her role
as the blind and crippled Hamm. Wil
liams, a junior drama major from New
York, said the most challenging part of
her role was making her character's
blindness believable.
She does more than that. She makes
the tilted world of Beckett seem
frighteningly plausible. In a play where
none of the characters are possibly real,
Chainsaw Kittens set to rock Cradle Halloween eve
Tuesday night. He's Not is not (hap
pening, that is, since it's cold). You're
in serious need of stress relief.
Well, you could go home to bed and
saw some wood. Or you could take the
preferred route of the musical set and
give a Leatherface treatment to the Cat 's
Cradle. That's only too appropriate,
since what we're talking about here is
the Halloween eve local debut of
Oklahoma's fabulous Chainsaw Kittens.
So they're not the most famous band
around. Your only exposure to this
formidable group may be an album re
view of the Kittens' Violent Religion in
these pages last week. But if advance
word is any indication, the Chainsaw
Kittens should create their own quasi
religious experience when they hit
Chapel Hill.
This ain't no glam band, though
photos make 'em look like it. Instead,
are
And they're both repre
sented by the insignia you wear
as a member of the Army Nurse
Corps. The caduceus on the left
means you're part of a health care
svstem in which educational and
career advancement are the rule,
nor the exception. The eold bar
vou command respect as an Army officer. If you're
u2
Williams gives her character a soul.
Williams believes Beckett depends
on personal perspective. "The play
should be kind of an open-ended inter
pretation for anyone," she said.
Jen Davis, ajuniorpsychology major
from Connecticut, is convincing as the
methodical Clov. She is constantly
playing little games with herself in or
der to make the time pass. Davis provides
most of the play's comic relief. She
engages the audience with quirky little
Brian Springer
like the Buzzcocks and the more main
stream Sonic Youth, the Chainsaw Kit
tens play power pop with often twisted
lyrics. Band leader and chief songwriter
Tyson Meade (ex-Defenestration)
gleefully layers clear, ringing vocal lines
over noisy instrumental overkill for a
sound that is as downright melodic as it
is powerful. On the band's debut LP,
Violent Religion, Meade calls up com
parisons to everyone from the Beatles
to Lloyd Cole to Metallica. But this is
one band that doesn't borrow or steal
the electric whirlwind is strictly its own.
The Chainsaw Kittens have been to
gether only a year and a half, but already
m ran mot.
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games that only the audience and she
can see.
The cast is completed by Tom Dav ies
and Tamar Arslanian who are the only
other creatures alive in this bizarre world
of Beckett.
When the play is over, no one moves.
There is complete silence. The cast
comes out, everyone claps, then total
silence. The lights come on, no one
speaks, no one moves. People just look
at each other. Pause ... pause ... silence.
they're headlining a club tour. While
Meade sings, the guitar tandem of Mark
Metzger and Trent Bell spits out sting
ing riffs. In the rhythm section, drum
mer Ted Leader and bassist Kevin
McElhaney work to keep the others in
control while holding down the low
end.
From the hard guitar pop of
"Bloodstorm" and "Bliss (We're
Small)" to the quiet power of "She's
Gone Mad" to the groove-heavy "Feel
Like a Drugstore," the Chainsaw Kit
tens leave aural ambrosia around every
corner. And they should kick the studio
versions of the songs under the carpet in
concert.
Opening up will be Raleigh's Vanilla
Trainwreck, a killer band in its own
right. VT is promoting a new single out
on Otis Records ("Galvanized" bw
New board game helps kids
confront fears, cope with them
From Associated Press reports
PHILADELPHIA Remember
hiding under the covers when you were
young, praying the lightning and thun
der would go away and leave you in
peace? Or maybe bullies were your
nightmare, or Halloween ghosts and
goblins.
Today's children have the same fears
spiders and snakes, large green
monsters and "the dark." But they don't
have to face those demons alone.
"Not So Scary Things" is a board
game that guides children through the
worst visions of their fears, debunking
myths and allowing them to gain some
mastery over life.
The game, available in some specialty
stores and catalogs, is for children ages
OSTEN
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for full details. See our complete ring selection on display in your college bookstore.
good sex
Debbie Williams smiles from the sec
ond row and looks around. The play is
a success.
"Endgame" will be performed today
at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and at 5 p.m. on
Tuesday in the basement of Graham
Memorial. Admission is free and do
nations are appreciated. Auditions for
next semester s Lab Theatre productions
are Dec. 3. Contact the Drama De
partment for more information.
"Picturing" and, hey, it's on white
vinyl) and has been featured on
WXYC's D emol is ten ("Naked on a
Train") and Mammoth's frequeNCy
("Please, Set Me on Fire"). Their sound
is hard-driving electric college radio
with a twinge of psychedelia. In short,
Greg Elkins and company create burn
ing rock'n'roll and dance in the ashes.
This will be one of the last three area
Vanilla Trainwreck dates (they'll be at
Raleigh's Fallout Shelter on November
2nd and Charlotte's Milestone on the
3rd) before they swing down to Geor
gia. This is amonster twin bill that should
even overcome the shift back to a one
a.m. beer hour. Whether you've lost
your mittens or just thrown 'em away,
don't miss this chance to cut a rug with
a dynamite new band and one of the
Triangle's best.
4-8 and their parents. It forces young
players to imitate the objects of their
nightmares and helps parents remember
childhood perils.
The game "mirrors the way children
learn how to handle their fears," said
Dr. Neil Izenberg, a pediatrician and
co-creator.
"Imitate it, learn about it, then master
it."
As important as the child's reaction
is parent participation.
"We see parents who inadvertently
frighten children because they don't
have the same fears," she said, using the
example of a parent who takes a child to
see a scary movie. "We forget what it
feels like."
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