Decembe 2» 1968
N. C. ESSAY
Page 2
THE BALD SOPRANO”
FROM SCHOOL OF ARTS
hy Mrs. John Bobo
A unique experience in theater
was enjoyed by the students of Mor-
ganton and Valdese High Schools when
the drama department of the N.C.
School of the Arts (Winston-Salem)
presented a one act play by Eugene
Ionesco entitled "The Bald Soprano."
Their tour arranged by the State De
partment of Education, included
Burke Country on a schedule that in
corporated two or three performances
a day for a week throughout western
North Carolina.
The choice of Ionesco's play as
the vehicle for the tour into the
rural areas of the state marked a
strict departure from conventional
theater. And yet, it was appropri
ate that it should be presented as
it has been, by type, a leading
style of theater in the United
states in the last twenty years,
though mostly confined to the more
urban centers such as New York.
"The Bald Soprano" is a funny as
sault on life in English surburbia,
though it could just as easily have
taken place in America. The dia
logue is made of cliches and readj;-
made phrases to create a looney pa
rody of our daily lives. This type
of drama is known as the "theater of
the absurd."
At each top, as they arrived
by bus and moving van, the technical
crew were the first one to hit the
pavement as it was their job to er-
rect the sets, props, lighting and
sound equipment for each perfor
mance. It was almost as fascinating
to watch their split second preci
sion as the actual performance it
self. While the School for the Arts
is basically a training ground, it
would be safe to say that these stu-
■dents could give any professional
crew a run for their money. A mark
ed spirit of enthusiasm for the task
at hand was a hallmark of the entire
presentation from the moinint the
■2:rour) arrived'at the door of the
high schoolp to the time the last
piece of equipment had been reloaded
and readied for the next school and
next performance. This freshness on
such a grueling schedule must be
hard to maintain but undoubtedly
contributes to the high quality of
^heir performance.
Eugene Ionesco, one of the
leading exponents of the European
Theater of the Absurd, was taking
English lessons when he conceived
the idea for this play. Struck by
the meaning-less-ness of communica
tion as he progressed from French to
English, he wrote the play to point
up the paradoxes inherent in the
situation. Thus, it is a play about
people, who talk, talk, talk to one
another but never really communi-
DIRTY OLD
mother GOOSE
by Teppy Tioke
It's that time when newspapers
throughout the world are filling
their pages with a backlog of human
interest materials. The war and the
peace talks go on; there is nothing
of special note happening in the
Nixon camp, due no doubt to the tape
over Mr. Agnew's mouth. This gives
writers a chance to experiment with
their reporting ability and 1., in my
rather Quixotic enthusiasm, went
searching for examples of the new
conservatism that is rampant in our
country. I first wandered into a
local barber shop and then a service
station but the talk there was the
same as it has been for years
"Those niggers are gitting too upp
ity." I searched on. A few blocks
down Maple Avenue (every to^-m has a
Maple Avenue and usually c. Dogwood
and Oak too) I noticed an elderly
lady walking briskly from a Victor
ian gingerbread house with a large
Samsonite attache in her hand.
Boldy I approached her and asked,
"are you part of the new conserva
tive wave that has struck our coun
try?" Eureka! I had found the epi
tome of the new conservatism—none
ether rhan 'Pricilla T. Goodbody,
profesfeioria!! ceiiBor (tt ired).
Miss (of course) Goodbody
immediately to tell me that she was
coming out of retirement because of
the big demand for television cen-
cors on Laugh-in and Smothers Bro
thers . She further explained that
she was not up to the strenuous life
of a television censor but planned
to concentrate her new efforts at
children's literature. It was only
after Miss Goodbody interpreted a
work of children's literature for me
that I realized how much pornography
was being dished out to our innocent
children in nursery school.
Take as exa"nple that totally
cate. In one sense it can be said
to be a copy or parody of our Tick
and Jane primary readers.
To reinforce the effect of the
author's wor’s, visual impact was
achieved by the use of the classic
red and v;hite clown makeup to inti
mate that any one character could be
any one else; stylized use of black
and white in the treatment ' of sets
and costumes; the rhythm and pace of
the words; a clock bonging endlessly
and pointlessly throughout the play
to punctuate the concept of time
gone hay wire. These effects and
many others were all used deliber
ately to heighten the absurdity of
the cliches. While genuinely funny
in spots, one is left with the
thought that it was indeed a biting
commentary on daily life in the six
ties. That this message was so
easily ascertained is a credit to
the skill and professionalism of the
actors and actresses who so ably in
terpreted this most difficult type
of comedy.
pornographic Mother Goose rhyme
"Little Miss Muffet." It's a pure
disgrace. According to Miss Good
body the smut starts on the very
first line. "Doesn't it seem
strange that a woman of Muffet 's
age isn't married?" she asked.
Clearly this is not natural.
But wait, it gest worse. "Sat
on her tuffet"—Here, right in the
middle of a children's nursery rhyme
is an explicit description of the
location of Miss Muffet's buttocks.
Ye Gads" I was in shock!
"Eating her curds and whey"—
This seemed innocent enough until
Miss Goodbody explained that this
concoction must be some type of aph
rodisiac. I made mental note to
check the chemical composition of
curds and whey while the discussion
continued.
By now I was catching on to
this new style of literary interpre
tation. "The next line, "Along came
a spider," I said, "must have a
Freudian meaning." "My God, Boy'
What else would anything with eight
legs be?" she replied. (I really
didn't like being called "boy".)
She continued, "and any numbskull
rould recognize the part about "and
sat down beside her" as being cohab
itation, or in the case of a black
widow(er), miscegenation. It seem
ed so clear. How could I have miss
ed it before?
Only one line was left. You
guessed it. Miss Muffet ran away
due to an episode causing traumatic
shock after being on the tuffet with
the spider. "Anv dunce could see
that, you clod," she said swinging
wildly at me with her umbrella.
"You pseudo-liberals just don't
understand anything." She was right
of course. Viva the new conserva
tism.
Lfferent
But, while it was a
play, a "messag'^," play, one not
easily understood, the effect of
watching "live" theater in action is
an experience that will be long re
membered by many Burke County stu
dents. Its value and excitement in
this one area alone can never be un
der estimated. For a day, Broadway
—North Carolina style — came to
Morganton!
Editor’s note:
This artiole was reprinted from
the News Herald newspaper of Morgan
ton, North Cdrolinaj November 14,
1968, page 3-A
ij
he\Areux .
ne peu+
tMmer