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4The Daily Tar HeelMonday, October 10, 1983 'As You Like It' r an amazing delight By SHERYL THOMAS Staff Writer During intermission, one woman was heard to say, "I thought this would be boring since it's Shakespeare, but it's really pretty good." To say the least. PlayMakers' current production, As You Like It, has something for everyone. For the avid Shakespeare fan, it pre serves the Elizabethan costuming and lack of props. Even for the person who knows no more about Shakespeare than that he is someone they heard about in high school, PlayMakers' produc tion is an amazing delight. Review The characters burst with energy, particularly Duke Frederick, Rosalind and Touchstone. Duke Frederick, played by Michael A. Connolly, has usurped the dukedom from his brother, Duke Senior (also played by Connolly), and turned the court into a hell on Earth. Duke Frederick surrounds himself with hissing, writhing and extremely interesting creatures of evil presumably cats. The Duke himself has been overtaken and mangled by his. evil, which manifests itself in his physical deformity. The Duke is ' crippled, confined to a wheelchair except on occasions of excep tional wrath when he heaves himself from the chair and walks, aided by two gleaming canes which he throws about in an enter tainly evil way. Rosalind, played by Hope Alexander-Willis, brings an element' of hope and happiness to this diabolic court. Although her father, Duke Senior, has been banished to the Forest of Arden, she re mains cheerful. At her entrance, Rosalind carries a rose, not only as a symbol of her name but also as a symbol of her being one of the few remnants of happiness and good left at the court. Rosalind explodes with breezy energy, falling head over heels in love with Orlando, playing silly games with her cousin Celia (Kathryn Meisle) and later, in Arden, pretending to be a shepherd with all the earnestness of a woman trying to act like a man. Touchstone, played by John Tyson, is a perfect Shakespearean fool. He constantly and disgustedly bad-mouths the court. He is the first one to leave for Arden. Yet, as with all fools, he cynically but humorously degrades life outside the court, seemingly ap palled at the lack of courtly niceties in Arden. Of all the exiled characters in Arden, Touchstone is the only one who even super ficially attempts to retain any courtly formalities, such as man ners. Yet he too is hexed by the spell of the forest, resigning him self to the "good life." Jaques, played by Gregory Boyd, is appropriately melancholy, dressed all in black and nicely disheveled. He cynically eyes the others, wishing he were anywhere but cheery Arden. He eventual ly leaves Arden, resignedly returning to Duke Frederick. Kathryn Meisle portrays Celia exceptionally well, giving her a character and presence that is obscure in the play's script. She complements Rosalind very well, joining her in her games and in "W:V. V.A i ' '-4 4 ,.w.J:.::'v.JCy,y Kathryn Meisle (top) plays Celia, and Hope Alexander-Willis plays Rosalind in 'As You Like It.' her dispair when Duke Frederick banishes Rosalind from court. Director Gregory Boyd and scenic designer Linwood Taylor, who delightfully appears as Corin, have collaborated to reveal a set and scenic elements that combine into visuals which may be even more entertaining than the script itself. The small, black stage of the Paul Green Theatre has been transformed into a series of huge whitewashed planks that extend from the front of the stage to the ceiling, resembling a section of one of those big amusement park slides. This colorless, ominous stage is an appropriate backdrop for the diabolic world of the French court. The whiteness" of the stage effectively reflects the cold, harsh light projected on these evil nobles. The whole has an air of Halloween. But there is a hidden surprise behind that stark stage, one that must be seen to be believed. The court itself is an intriguing combination of Elizabethan costumes and jargon and contemporary machinery such as a stainless steel wheelchair and a black box that sends out invisible rays, mysteriously incapacitating its intended victim. When the "good" characters leave Arden, the uninviting stage is transformed into a welcoming sun-dappled glade, complete with moon and clouds when dusk approaches. Because it does not strictly adhere to Elizabethan dramatic standards, staunch Shakespearean scholars and critics may find room for criticism of PlayMakers' production of As You Like It. But the purpose of the play is to entertain, and PlayMakers As You Like It definitely realizes this goal. Need a ride for fall break? Check the DTH classifieds. f jtmjrijuimam Total Tennis and Racquetball 7 Know What I Sell o now balance SaueonyO PRlfJCi .sggi , J HEAD Carr Mill Mall Open 10-8 Mon.-Fri. 10-6 Sat. 933-0069 Wrbolhane visco i-src potrMcn . Complete Running Accessories SORRY CO ABOUT YOUR J zO UPPER j I PUT ITPOWN IN A ,,NOPARKIN6Z0NE,AN!7 IT 60TT0U)P AWAY! HA HA HA HA HA HA! Rf 17 I SUPPOSE IF I LEARNEP TO USE A CAN OPENER, I WOULDN'T MAVE TO PUT UP WITH JOKES LIKE THAT BLCOM COUNTY by Bcsiie Breathed IP UK YOU WHAT'57H IHC've GOT P&Wtrt: A OOPti 3W THAT ymXb OF 0LV,MZT rWSHPVPPfe& ANC WHICH HAS A tkti OF MPS$PBJ5Z1TS.. . Time THAT UP. MY NObC AN? I AWAIT A LAVISH APDU5GY. The Carolina Union Recreation Committee is sponsoring a ins I s1 m IT 3 miles Sunday, October 16 at 1:00 pm starting at Carmichael Field 2.00 registration TAEHEELS DO IT FOE FUN! SrrUZC "it xC Educational Center TEST PREPARATION SPECIALISTS SINCE 1938 Call Days Evenings & Weekends 2643 Chapel Hill Blvd. Suite 112 Durham, NC 27707 (919)489-8720489-2348 or 1-800-672-5919 Can you withdraw without penalty? Does your savings plan reduce taxesr TAX-DEFERRED ANNUITY DOES ALL THREE! Sue Anne, Mary Anne & Laura MUTUAL OF NEW YORK P.O. Box 95161 RALEIGH, NC 27625 872-8666 or 781 -5841 'Brainstorm' worth 2-year wait f Savings earn $S!& 11.75MMSr f interest? JsI j M By JEFF GROVE Arts Editor After many delays, Brainstorm has finally come to North Carolina, the state where most of it was filmed. Douglas Trumbull's $18 million science fiction . adventure, it may finally be learned by a trip to Raleigh's Mission Valley Cinema, is an entertaining and thought-provoking film that people will argue about endless- ly. Review Brainstorm is set in Research Triangle Park, where scientists Michael Brace and Lillian Reynolds, played by Oscar winners Christopher Walken and Louise Fletcher, work for a huge, faceless cor poration headed by a profit-mad director (played by another Oscar-winner, Cliff Robertson). Brace and Reynolds have in vented a device that records and transmits people's thoughts, emotions and ex periences. The scientists view the inven tion as a boon for education and com munication; their boss, to their dismay, sees a greater profit potential in its military use. Pressure from a military overseer drives Reynolds to a fatal heart attack in the lab late one night. Realizing that help is unavailable, she valiantly records her death experience on her machine. The rest of the film focuses on a conflict between Brace, who has an obsessive desire to play Reynolds' tape, and the military, which has taken over the project and has locked the tape in a vault. Brainstorm's cast raises high hopes for great performances. Walken, Fletcher and Robertson won their Oscars, respec tively, for The Deer Hunter, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Charly. Natalie Wood rounds out the cast as Walken's estranged wife, Karen. Only Fletcher, a UNC alumna, totally lives up to expectations. On? of the most gifted and versatile of actresses, she delivers a finer performance than she did in Cuckoo's Nest. Reynolds is a dedicated scientist and an ardent pacifist. Fletcher invests her with a credible sense of righteous indignation over Uncle Sam's intrusion into her work. She is also at the end of her rope, struggling for closeness to other people, yet she spends her even ings relaxing in the deserted lab listening to opera. Her death scene is a stunning example of how much Fletcher can com municate with her face alone not just pain, but despair, determination and hope. Walken delivers a performance that misses complete satisfaction because of its unevenness. He makes Brace relaxed on the surface but tormented inside by he breakup of his marriage. This is an acceptable mixture, but his actions toward his son are simply inconsistent. Still, he is interesting as a character because he notices everything carefully but unobstrusively. Walken also fascinates with his symbolic connection to past giants of research and invention. He talks to his portrait of Albert Einstein. And surely it is no coincidence that work Brainstorm's climax occurs at Kitty Hawk, allowing Brace to exclaim to a statute of Wilbur Wright, "We made it!" Robertson is dealt the raw hand of a poorly written character (the stereotypical Uncaring Corporate Megalomaniac), yet he manages to have fun with the character. Wood was never a great actress, but she knew how to exploit her Limited resources successfully, and her part in Brainstorm is a good deal better than the work she did in the '70s, typified by the disaster epic Meteor. It is hard to imagine why MGM felt her death voided the pro duction; there is no sense that something is missing because of her death before the film's completion. She is well-cast as a member of the marketing and design department of her husband's corpora tion. The screenplay, adapted fom Bruce Joel Rubin's novel by Robert Stitzel and . Philip Frank Messina, is the real stumb ling block. What is the plot? If the major point is Brace's attempts to play Reynolds' tape, the plot doesn't get started until the last half of the film. Is it an examination of government instrusion into private reserach? If so, the characters representing the government are too one sided to create any real tension. Any thoughts of a muddled script, though, are lost when Trumbull, special effects man for 2001: A Space Odyssey and director of Silent Running, unleashes his astonishing visual effects. Cinematographer Richard Yuricich cap tures these elements well, and the result is a dazzling display whenever a character dons the . helmet connected to the thought-transmission device. Lillian Reynold's death experience may disap point some people, but it shows that Trumbull & Co. have done their homework on the subject. There is even one special effects sequence that amounts to pure comedy, much like several por tions of Silent Running where machines are used for humorous purposes. At the end of the film, a number of unanswered questions remain. Characters are not always as fully developed as they should be, and some disappear from the film with no explanation. Still, Brainstorm will have people arguing in barrooms about life and death, as well as such day-to-day concerns as whether or not Big Brother is just around the corner. Brainstorm was worth the two-year wait, but it won't be another 2001 or Silent Running. And with flattering shots of the Research Triangle, Raleigh, Pinehurst, Kitty Hawk and Duke Chapel, it ain't a bad plug for North Carolina, either. 'The Big Chill3 is realistic, emotional, satisfying By SHERYL THOMAS Staff Writer Everyone wonders, with some anxiety, what he or she will be doing in 10 or 15 years, and where all the old friends will be. The Big Chill, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, is a film which gives possible answers to these questions. Kasdan terms the film a "comedy of values." Kasdan adds The Big Chill to a long list of popular and suc cessful films which he has either written or co-written: Raiders of the Lost Art, Continental Divide, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Body Heat, which marked his directorial debut. ' Review The Big Chill portrays the weekend reunion of a group of former college housemates at the funeral of Alex, the man who "brought them together." Formerly idealistic and non conformist, they were Torced to give up their ideals for "practical" careers, and are now, for the most part, members of the establishment. They have "grown up" to be a ninning-shoe store entrepreneur (Harold, played by Kevin Kline), a doctor (Harold's wife Sarah, played by Glenn Close), a television star (Sam, played by Tom Berenger), a journalist for People magazine (Michael, played by Jeff Goldblum), a lawyer (Meg, played by Mary Kay Place), the wife of a businessman (Karen, played by JoBeth Williams), and a disillusioned Vietnam veteran (Nick, played by William Hurt). It is easy to empathize with these characters without feeling obligated to get caught up emotionally in their situations. Each tries to wear the mask of contentment, but as the weekend progresses the masks are removed, revealing their mutual disillusionment. The experiences are very true-to-life, and college students especially will be able to understand or at least anticipate the feelings of the group. After all, the characters' generation was the first in which most kids went to college. This generation is the sec ond. But The Big Chill does have problems. Meg, the sole unmarried woman of the group, desperately wants a child before it is too late. Sarah, to demonstrate her deep affection for Meg, all to casually offers Harold for stud service. The only character who does not quite work is Chloe, played by Meg Tilly. The fault is not Tilly's acting but Kasdan's writing. Tilly plays Alex's girlfriend. She did not go to school with the group and is much younger than they are. The problem is that she is left outside the group, although superficially accepted. Everything she says is irrelevant and tasteless in the context of the situation. Finally, at the very end, she is accepted by the group and proves that she really did love Alex. But her final redemption is poor compensation poor because the character has a lot more potential. These problems, however, are minor in comparison with the overall quality of the film. In the main, The Big Chill is a realistic, emotional and ultimately satisfying film that treats the very real, ongoing problems of displacement, disillusionment and isolation. Campus Calendar todavs AcrrvrriES A pivotal meeting of the Committee for Hunger Respon sibility will transpire at 4:30 p.m. at the Campus Y. Please at tend if you're intrigued by the Fast. NELSON PADGETT pianist Monday, October 17 8:00 pm Memorial Hall UNC Tickets $3.50 at Union Box Office "The Role Of Ioa' BambardnKiM Of Surface! In Plasma Etching" by Dr. John Coburn, IBM Research Lab. 1 1 a.m. in 308 Venable Hall. Hear Professor Jacob Goldberg of the Institute for Mideast and African Studies, University of Tel Aviv, discuss"Prospecto of the PLO in the aftermath of Lebanon," at 4 p.m. in 569 Hamilton Hall. Sponsored by curriculum in peace, war and defense. The UNC Outing Club is having a gathering. If you are a climber, biker, cyclist or camper, the Outing Club is for you. Come to the Club meeting at 7 p.m. Check Union desk for room-number. There will be an important meeting of K'en at 7 p.m. in the Union. All members and all interested come. The UNC Model United Nations dub will meet in 3SI Hamilton at 6 p.m. Be there. Career Planning and Placement Services will conduct a workshop on Getting the Information That You Need For the Job Search at 1 p.m. in 210 Hanes Hall. Career Planning and Placement will sponsor a seminar on Careers in the Foreign Service presented by the U.S. Foreign Service at 3:30 p.m. in 210 Hanes Hall. The Di-Phi Speech Society will meet at 7:30 p.m. in 300 New West. COMING EVENTS Association of Business Students: Mark your calendars for Oct. 13 make your own sundae. Get to know your pro fessors and fellow students over ice cream. Find out more details attend the ABS general meeting on Tuesday in Car roll Hall at 3:30 p.m. The UNC Young Democrats will briefly meet Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in Room 226 in the Union. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome. The Carolina Indian Circle will have a polluck dinner on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Coffeehaus at Craige Dorm. All interested in a competitive women's squash dub, please come to an organizational meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Union. APICS: On Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in 204 New Carroll, Dr. Nancy Lea Hyer will discuss Eaton Corp. All students in terested in productionoperations management are inviioU. All Alpha Kappa Psi members be present at the meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to pick up their doughnuts for the fund raiser and to sign up for the banquet. UNC Riding Club will meet on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Union. Members must attend. Final details for Fcrrum Show will be made. Any questions, call Charlotte at 933 2077. A.B.S. will meet on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in 106' Carroll Hall. Speaker: Pat Carpenter, Career Planning and Placement. Everyone is welcome. The UNC-CH Clogging Club and the Apple C hiH Cloggi-i will sponsor a clogging workshop at 7:30 and a square dance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the Community Church on Purefov Road. Music will be provided by the Red Rose Myers. The Graduate and Professional Sludenl FederalHin Senate will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Union. Share Seminar will continue Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the IViptki Student Center. Tryouts for a play based on the parable of the laborers in the vineyard will be held at the Baptist Student Center, 203 Battle Lane at 6 p.m. Tuesday. ITEMS OF INTEREST Elections Board applications are now available in Suite C of the Union. Anyone interested can pick up an application or contact Chris Cox (967-4289) for more info. Deadline is Wednesday. The Blood mobile win be in the Great Hail from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Blood donors should call APO for appointments at 962-1044 or 962-3996. Contraceptive Health Education Clinic is now meeting every Monday at 4 p.m. in the Health Education Section of the Stu dent Health Service. Individual consultations also available by appointment. Call 966-2281 yext 275. PLITT THEATRES AST FMMIIM ITWtl 1 1 CAROLINA CLASSIC GASLIGHT 2:155:05 Jennifer Beals FLASDANCE m 3:15 5:15 7:15 9:15 Richard Gere in 7.30 9.30 BEYOND THE LIMIT ng ifaxBoooooorxoooooooorxxmoa ELLIOT ROAD at E. FRANKLIN 967-4737 $2.00 TIL 6:00 PM EVERYDAY! 3:00 5.-05 7:70 9:15 William Hurt Kevin Kline The Big Chill r 2.55 5.00 . 7.05 9:1 0 Dudley Moore Mary Steenburgen (PG) Romantic Comedy DOUBLE FEATURE! Eddie Murphy 13:15 7:25 Dolby Stereo 48 HRS. (R) UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA MBA PROGRAM An Admissions Representative from the University of Georgia Graduate School of Business Administration will be on campus October 26, 1983 to meet with students interested in the MBA Program Contact the Career Planning and Placement Center for more details and to sign up for an information session 5:10 9:20 Trading Places (R)
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 10, 1983, edition 1
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