I Reviews
Pocket
Theater
presents
‘non-plays ’
By JUDITH BARKER
Of the Emerald
Two interesting non-plays will
blabber their author’s complaints
tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. in
the Pocket Theater. They are
Peter Handke’s “speak-ins,”
called “Self-Accusation” and
“Publikumsbeschimpfung,” both
rendered effectively into English
by Michael Roloff.
The first, “Self-Accusation,”
unlike the other piece, includes
stylized action which moves the
two actors around the theatre.
The script is a monologue made
up of statements. Since the only
stage directions seem to be
Hanke's suggestions for vocal
intonations, director Betty Noller
and her actors must have made
all the theatrical choices. We are
fortunate that a boy and girl
perform the piece, and that they
have a nice interaction going. All
■"the lines begin with “Iv” and
form a progressive account of the
experience of a life. The words
describe actions rather than
feelings or emotions. It is a self
description of birth, growing,
maturing, rebellion, falling prey
to false values, knowing wrong
and not being able to avoid doing
it, growing old and approaching
death with dissatisfaction and a
sense of incompleteness.
The actors lend action and
emotional coloring to their
words, and give us a feeling for
the life they are describing. Demi
McDevitt and Martin Treat do a
most energetic job of keeping us
interested in a script made up
entirely of abstract brief sen
tences. They both seemed
sincere while enunciating
complex double- and triple- word
combinations, reversal in
meaning and speedy cataloging.
There were puns and linguistic
exercises, a’ la Gertrude Stein,
which they spoke naturally and
conveyed with charm. Both
actors changed moods often and
displayed quite a range of
reactions to their material; their
theatrical overlay gave the words
emotional impact. Except for
Treat’s tendency to grimace and
gesture stiffly, the acting was fun
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to watch. The actors are to be
commended for remembering all
those words, words, words.
The second piece made no
pretense at theatricality. “Of
fending the Audience” begins
with a cacophony of words and
sounds from the actors lying in a
contrived wheel formation on the
floor. Then they arrange
themselves in a line across the
apron of the stage and proceed to
insult the audience for its taste
for traditional forms of theatre.
They explain that they are not
acting; that nothing in the
theatre is meant to signify
anything else; that, indeed, the
stage is empty; and there is no
play. There follow some oc
casionally interesting vocal
orchestrations. The six speakers
all seem to be extremely per
sonable people one might like to
know outside their present
context. And the script contains
some clever admonitions to bring
the audience into an awareness of
the Here and Now. But none of
these features prevents boredom
and affrontedness from setting,
in.
Reviewing the piece is like
reviewing one’s own par
ticipation, since responses from
the audience create the only
theatre being performed. One
often goes to the theatre and
regrets it, but one doesn’t often
have the people on stage tell him
he’s a jerk for being there, with
his infantile and mindless ex
pectations. In an interview about
the speak-ins (reprinted in the
program), Handke says, “To put
it in geometric terms, this rec
tangular relationship, in which
people onstage talk to each other
while others watch them, is
outdated.” Many of us would
grant that. But Handke does not
offer a viable alternative to the
situation which dissatisfies him.
He chooses a negative, didactic,
intellectual approach and puts
down the audience for their lack
of discrimination. Handke, in the
persons of his orators, comes into
the theatre and dumps a load on
his audience. Audience members
may start to “act out” their
frustrations, yet the script
continues to berate the presup
posed narrow-minded audience.
Nevertheless, being deliberately
deprived of spectacle and ex
perience, the audience makes its
own. This is the greatest value of
the piece.
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Cartoons—the oldies
pack in the crowds
By CLAY EALS
Of the Emerald
Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are moving out of their humble
abode. They can’t pay the rent. Black Pete, the landlord, is breathing
down their necks.
So they’re moving, and fast.
Donald runs around the house, tries to pick things up and move
them carefully, and fails, time after time. His beak gets stuck in a
gasoline jet. His tail gets stuck inside a fishbowl.
Goofy helps them out by moving the piano. He moves it out the back
door, up a ramp into a moving truck, and goes back into the house. The
piano slides out of the truck—Goofy looks out the window at the
piano—the piano slides back in. Goofy looks away and the piano slides
out again.
Goofy ends up spending all of his time staring the piano back into the
truck.
Then comes Black Pete. He had just tacked up an eviction notice on
the front door, pounding in the tacks with his fists. Pete carries two
guns. He barges through the door, blasts everything in sight with his
guns.
Somehow, the gasoline jet ignites, explodes, and the entire house
and its contents are blown up into the air.
And, of course, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, along with all the things
they wanted to move, fall into place on the moving truck and drive
away—everything intact.
Walt Disney, at his 1937 best.
The ten-minute color cartoon is just one of many which have been
shown at weekly “two and a half hour animation orgies,” put on by
White Bird Sociomedical Clinic on campus.
White Bird began showing the “orgies” (as a poster calls them)
three Thursdays ago. And the house has been packed each time. For $1
admission, people have been able to see the early works of Disney, and
a few other old-time favorite cartoons: Betty Boop, Tubby the Tuba,
Mr. Magoo, Mutt and Jeff and Felix the Cat.
Some range back as far as 1904. Most are from the 1920’s and 1930’s.
And they’re all fun to watch.
The first show Oct. 7 in 180 PLC was an all-Disney fest. It featured
several full-length (half-hour) features that Disney made—the ones
that are famous, but not nearly as famous as “Snow White,”
“Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.”
Best part of the night was “Peter and the Wolf.” The film contains
color images of little Peter marching, strutting down the snow-filled
path to catch the wolf—and what a convincing wolf. The wolf’s
snarling, slobbering, hungry puss waiting for something to eat: Peter.
But in the end Peter catches the wolf with the help of woodside friends.
And all through the feature, different musical themes represent
different characters—themes which are retained by the audience in
the forms of whistling and humming.
Also, two Mickey Mouse cartoons were shown. One was particularly
good -it had Mickey conducting an orchestra playing the William Tell
over ure on an outdoor stage. And Donald interrupting all the way
through with Turkey in the Straw, playing the tune with a never
ending supply of flutes.
The second showing Oct. 14 in 150 Science had many Disney shorts,
plus other “historical” accounts of how the first cartoons were made.
“Gertie the Dinosaur” was interesting in that it was the first full
length animated feature ever made.
Unfortunately, most of the Oct. 14 showing was in black and white.
Last night’s show in 180 PLC was a combination of the first two.
White Bird’s Larry Stern called it “The first complete history of the
cartoon in America and the world—part one.”
“We hope to have part two next week,” he said last night. “The
response to these cartoons has been fantastic. I didn’t expect it.
Disney is apparently as big as ever.”
White Bird gets the films from a distributor in California. The
cartoon series was run at UC Berkeley and Stanford and had a huge
response there, so Stem thought it would be a good idea here.
People planning on going to see “part two” of the “history” of
cartoons next Thursday night should plan to arrive early—a long line
forms and if you’re at the end you may have to sit in the aisles. The
showings are that popular.
And rightfully so.
Cartoons make people laugh. No matter what age. But even more
than that, they markedly show attitudes of certain eras of history. The
old cartoons, most of them Disney, shown by White Bird the past few
weeks .have done just that. I guess that’s why so many people have
attended the showings. They’re fun.
Oh, by the way—remember Pluto? He’s there too.
XXX - Rated Girls
Taking it off Tuesday thru Saturday nights at LaMars
Mona Lisa Room, 795 Willamette, 342-1883.