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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1976)
STAGE II Most of us have taken the op portunity, at one time or another, to immerse ourselves in the fan tasy and delight, and sometimes sorrow, of classic drama—but for those who have held-off from this unique birthing of emotion and growth, the time is ripe to become acquainted with some of drama's greatest writers. By JOHN LOEBER For forty years the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ash land has been bringing quality theatre to the Northwest, and next month will begin a new season of discovery by presenting four plays by four legendary playwrights: Britain s George Bernard Shaw, Norway s Henrik Ibsen, England's William Shakespeare, and America s great entertainer, George M Cohan The true essence of a festival is celebration and entertainment, with the entertainment a surety with the inclusion of Shakespeare s The Comedy of Errors' and Cohan's “The Tavern in this year s Festival. Almost anything by Cohan is sure to please us m this year of Bicen tennial hoopla, for he is, after all, the embodiment of American energy, and is sure to cut through any number of layers of cynicism we ve acquired, to treat America and its myth as a bellyful of fun. A Comedy of Errors ' is one of the Bard s earlier works, and while it doesn't show the strong charac terizations of his later work, it does manage to draw an audience into the character of comedy and ac tion. Taken together, these two plays will keep any audience, of any background, caught in the throes of full entertainment — something always to be thankful for. But there is something more than entertainment involved in a festival. There is a sense of religi ous celebration. A sense of com ing closer to yourself, of knowing more when it's over than when it began. For this purpose Ibsen’s Brand and Shaw s "The Devil's Disciple both fit as perfect coun terpoint to the sheer humor of the first two plays, but even more, to each other “Brand" is not a funny play by anybody s definition. It is the story of an uncompromising Lutheran minister, set on the lonely, craggy coast of Norway in 1865. Brand is his name, and he has a soul har der than the land from which he springs, committed totally to his idea of God and religion. Unable to be either a man as other men, or an apostle, he demands "all or no thing" from life. Jerry Turner, the director of “Brand,” says, “It is a call to cour age and idealism and a rebuke to a soft and decadent generation.” Ibsen s Brand will suffer all, but give nothing—his unyielding stands force the needless death of his own son and later his wife. He tears down all that the people of his village hold holy, appearing as a raging spectre of commitment, but never showing an attainable goal In the end Brand must face the consequences of his demands and finish his life alone. In Shaw's "The Devil’s Disci ple," the antithesis of "Brand," the hero is Dick Dudgeon, described by his own mother as "...a bad man. He is a smuggler; and he lives with gypsies; and he has no love for his mother and his family; and he wrestles and plays games on Sunday instead of going to church." He has passed by the love of his family and friends to follow his cal ling, saying "I knew from the first that the Devil was my natural mas ter and captain and friend. I saw that he was in the right, and that the world cringed to his conqueror only through fear." Dick is a piti less character, but one for whom we feel empathy When his mother is on her deathbed she does not even call for him—and he doesn t even care to know her ailments: "Not I: he doesn’t know; and I don t care. We shall know soon enough." Like Brand, Dick Dudgeon will suffer all, but give nothing—but here the resemblance ends. Dudgeon's unyielding stand in the face of the English army saves the needless death of one he cares nothing for. He supports what others hold holy, without a dream. In the end Dick will win the love and admiration of his village. There are differences here. Brand is not an apostle, despite his holy garb he is a dreamer who offers nothing by ego; Dick Dudgeon appears a wastrel and dreamer, and is in truth an apostle who follows his beliefs to the end. But there is more. Shaw's play is called a melodrama and Ibsen’s a naturalistic tragedy. In 1873 Emile Zola, a founder of naturalism, becried melodrama as the death of theatre, saying, “Drama is dying of its extravag ences, its lies and its platitudes. If comedy still keeps on its feet in the collapse of our stage, that is be cause it contains more of real life, because it is often true.” And yet Zola, taken in another light, helps the melodrama of Shaw to explain the tragedy of Ibsen—if we look on “Brand” as drama and “The Devil’s Disciple” as comedy. This is not too far to go, actually, when Shaw's play is closely observed. “The Devil's Disciple” is actually anti melodramatic, with an abundance of counter-stereotypes: anti heroes such as Dick Dudgeon, spiteful mothers, and role rever sals. We find Shaw handling comi cally what Ibsen handled dramati cally. There is no disparaging comment on Shaw's part here, and Turner tells us, “In fact, as a psychologist and philosopher, Ibsen seemed to dwarf William Shakespeare so much, Shaw said, It became impossible for the moment to take him seriously as an intellectual force.' ” So we find the comedy of Shaw following the logic of Emile Zola and actually lending greater life, and definition, to Ibsen—thanks to the Festival in Ashland. This creates a powerful pack age indeed, with three of the greatest writers ever to publish coming together to make a point. Tickets for Festival Stage II start at $3 50 and can be purchased through the EMU Main Desk. The Festival will run from February 13 through April 10. ♦ PMS 1225 Alder 345-2628 Just off Campus Live Music Wednesday and Friday Nights 9-Midnight All sandwiches are available on your choice of bread. 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