Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 19, 1973, edition 1 / Page 2
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Tfwr.Miy Tut HfH Playmakerg9 6IimdliaLi9 dazzMimg "Indians gave Wild Bill Hardy his best role in years, the Carolina Playmakers their greatest hit in many moons, and local audiences a new director, Jon Mezz, who unlike the white man, can deliver as much as he promises. Unfortunately, Arthur Kopit's shallow script continues the all too prevalent contemporary trend in drama of relying more on dazzling form and structure than on literary content (witness "The Executioners" and "And the Old Man Had Two Sons" on this campus and 'That Championship Season" and "Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway). Too often during the evening, vulgar displays intruded (for example, the Indian Sun Dance with on-stage blood). Too regularly the mood melted into simple sentimentalism-"We did have fun, you and I, didn't we?" Buffalo Bill tritely asks Sitting Bull. But Mezz, with his large and talented cast led by Chapel Hill critic and professor William Hardy, managed to turn the limp content into moving, bravura theatre, more than just a two-hour reenactment of "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." The drama hinges on the theme of illusion vs. reality. Like "Little Big Man" before it, "Indians" sets out to de-mythologize conceptions and leave the naked truth. The United States' illusory promises become fraudulent in central core scenes which link ail the digressions: a council between agents of the Great Father in Washington and Sitting Bull, the last Indian holdout. Buffalo Bill, a folk hero, is revealed not as the Indian friend he so wants to be, but as a schizophrenic traitor who, like Kit Carson, only succeeds in pi i $.02- Carolina Ml Copy Center 336 Ros SALE? Well, yes and no. Our bargain corner is always nicely stocked with low-priced - treasure, but we don't usually boast of a sale unless a giant new batch comes in. At the moment we've a middling size batch of children's books, a fairly good clump of gift books at reduced prices, plus the usual lot. Not really up to "sale" proportions, but a handsome lot deserving a look or two. Come browsing!!! The Intimate Bookshop Chapel Hid Open evenings ' tit 10 The Daily Tar HmI Is published by the University of North Carolina Student Publications Board, daily except Sunday, , exam periods, vacation, and summer periods. No Sunday issue. The following dates are to be the on ry Saturday Issues: 1 September 2, 9. 16 & 23, October 14 a)': ana ngnnBr 11 is. Offices are at the Student Union building, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27514. Telephone numbers: News, Sports' 933-1011; 933-1012; Business, Circulation, Advertising 933-1163. Subscription rates: $10.00 per year; $5.00 per semester. Second class postage paid at UJS. Post Office In Chapel Hill, N.C The Student Legislature shall have powers to determine the- Student Activities fee and to appropriate an ' revenue derived from the Student Activities Fee (1.1.1.4 of the Student Constitution). The Daily Tar Heel reserves the right to regulate the typographical tone of all advertisements and to revise or turn away copy it considers objectionable. The Dally Tar Heel wilt not consider adjustments or payments for any advertisement Involving major, typographical errors or erroneous Insertion unless notice Is given to the Business Manager within (1) one day after the advertisement appears, or within one day of the receiving of tear " sheets, of subscription of the paper. The Dally Tar Heel will not be responsible for more than one Incorrect insertion of an advertisement scheduled to run several times. Notices for such correction -must be given jefore the next insertion. Krturray Pool"". . Floyd Alford, Jr. . . Business Mgr. . . . . Adver. Mgr. 'maun y j &m m- m a a -r- destroying the Indian. (Shots ring out. Buffalo, the Indians food supply, die as we in the audience crunch our popcorn. Our orientation flips from illusion to reality as American sportsman Buffalo Bill Cody arrives on the scene, shouting "a hundred shots, a hundred buffalo."). Even the setting of the play is itself a painful illusion-Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show-given a detailed reconstruction by lighting and set designer Gordon Pearlman (no doubt his best work) with Indian displays in the lobby (by David Thompson), hawkers selling popcorn, rough-hewn wooden bleacher seats, sawdust in the arena of the Graham Memorial Lounge Theatre, and American flags flying everywhere, waving Manifest Destiny in our faces. "Indians" shows that in reality, the Wild West Show was but a mere romantic conception of the West, illusory and unsupportable. Annie Oakley (Betsy Sidden) couldn't hit the broad side of a barn yet was hailed as a sharpshooter. Indians were peace-loving peoples, not savage beasts of the desert. And Buffalo Bill was no wild Indian tamer. "Indians" is highly episodic, a fluid Parchesi game of plots. Director Mezz paced the show quickly and kept the lines of thought clear. Each scene was carefully composed G with special attention to detail. On the plains, grasshoppers sounded off. At the scene of Indian massacre, actors carried a billowy white sheet onstage, set it down, crawled on top, and assumed attitudes of death on the suddenly snowy terrain. Scenes involving Buffalo Bill and the President (George I. Rand) had very contemporary overtones. And musical director Thomas Brosh's selections, ranging from string quartet to brash circus music, subtly embellished the setting. Mezz's cast romped through "Indians" with alacrity and circus-like spirit. William Hardy was the ego-driven Buffalo Bill, who came West with the railroads and became a legend on paper and in the arena, where he perpetuated the myth of the Indians and of the Wild West. Hardy was gravel-voiced and proud and did wonders with what little the script gave him to communicate Buffalo Bill's cumulative realization of his inherent schizophrenia. Stephen Henderson's moving portrayal of Sitting Bull stood with Hardy's as the evening's best. Henderson's euphonious voice prayed for the return of the buffalo and aimed a terrifying tirade at the pale-faced Council. "We shall live like the white men," he proclaimed with carriages, food, shelter, servants, and G7 $M4 THE Dfiy Bur v. its komvf m Tk'ftTtSm ST03 f) SO Hwt&g rf Iff I vr v 9 . c2 fUL & y use. this coupon COUPON GAVIN Gg?fl This coupon is worth 10 on any purchase in the store when used between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Only one coupon per sale. Good thru 33173 STUDENT STORES I Ml i- if. j 1 I e. i j T t t I ul n u?:svonoi?v ? -.kortm caqcxcha other modem conveniences. - Warren Johnston's John Grass, the youthful spokesman of the holdout Indians, expressed both repressed feelings of vengeance and earnest desire for peace. His turning the Wild West Show's illusory Sun Dance into bloody reality was well-done (though a cheap theatrical trick). The Wild Bill Hickok of Graham Marlette was physically right on line; he looked the part of the gunfighter who died with a full house in his hands and a bullet in his back. His coarse language and Pat Paulsen expressions added much comic relief. Another romanticized Wild West figure, he turned a playlet before the President and his wife into a murder scene by killing journalist Ned Buntline (played with aggressive impishness by Ned Shifman). "Indians" was a real showpiece, featuring a cast of 37, including acrobatic roughriders, a sincere and deeply moving Chief Joseph (Dal Greer Jr.), and numerous characters of the recent past: Billy the Kid, Geronimo, Red Cloud, and Annie Oakley (a real shoot 'em up female superstar). Sam Allen's costumes, down to the last 10-gallon hat, and Valerie Stancik's galloping choreography added to what was a very complete night in the theatre. From entrance to exit we were surrounded with the play's subject matter. "Indians" showed the Playmakers alive and well on the way to re-mythologizing their image as one of the country's finest performing university troupes. "" - ''" 1 11 .M.ii..-....i.ii. ..... T j.j f"". -- i '( Sharon Wells plays Armande, one of Moliere's "Intellectual Ladies" ("Les Femmes Savantes")- The comedy runs Feb. 22-25 and March 2-4 in Branson Theatre on the East Campus of Duke University. Daniel F. Berkowitz directs the Duke Players in. this theatrical attraction of the Duke University Moliere Festival. 1 f" "'" ' "r--i i iii' ' i i ' in- ' jS.f ' '" ' 1 """" ' : ' J"""j I v.,,, ' - IbimiMi 11111111 in. I M ii. nil in iiwrnir . of m PUZA-Crapcl WW& newest and mor Confcmporarvj environ rTrSnt -for tody's Con sumer: EpCKerf acoJ3i'nt oorse With -the rvevo shops, ser vices f merchandise, locarcd in "the ? of tkg VtllageJHE RA2A Frcnklm f 'RDsermn Streets as tolt OS off THE PLAZA pac ing decc Fin f jr 1 U)Mn oo go -to -the rtA2As pS -fine! loqcfc Book Sharelis psrfecr-fbr T5pe CBrtfeer 08rris tKc lof est Sounds. OaT6pccerKiens,4n Osraiina Barber 5ri6p Mwcs "baJa's Cots uH'ile Design X Jg C3rn-the47nf5t in rceA em brnishrNp . Corrtincrttg "Tray e the uxxVi, butbefeo2fvj , cp0 shooU chei"Bie inrjern9Tona -fashions and accessories -feond rvtvnTtJE TIAtTA arcrfher -the ra Qor t h 6 Shop $($ter tpjve bfowssj in all -the ParrVcfic shops TflH VlATA, sop by Blimpt'c Basefcr 3nttrea voor 6cif"to cfclicioos -Rsod. 3 pip iJi; HAVE A 6X0Tl,vl 3 CQ CO LU o o Q A HAP A V ( I 0HU ) Ij "-n foztvmm, THer' were ALL On OT'nZ FEOnS j I -r a x is i v&sy mm - E-'3g5ELjnt J ee 33 ooQo 1 p&siveur ONCS SAIP TWIT titer? Frttt.. m 9f - - - - - 1 o ,:--rrjc ooQo BBN ON? OF COR. TH CDfTTRfiflY, rr HR3 &N 7H& m TH& HISTORY GF I sa m &3V oo O o COPIES OF 7HS a nfl fZED rS
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 19, 1973, edition 1
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