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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1976)
Universitu Theatre's ‘Good Woman of Setzuan' opening tomorrow “People whistled, shrieked, booed, applauded. The actress on stage jumped onto the piano and beg an banging the keys with her feet. The noise grew deafening....Then applause started, rose to a climax, and the By JOHN LOEBER performance went on,” according to observers during the opening of a play by Bertolt Brecht in 1926. It has been over 40 years r since Brecht's work incited riots and almost four since it’s been played at the University Theatre—and while a riot is doubt ful, a production of his “Good Woman of Setzuan" will open Feb. 13 and run Feb. 14 and 18-21. To call Brecht an unusual playwright is a statement absurd in itself—Brecht is a consuming writer, totally unable to accept the art of yesterday as the voice of today, thereby creating state ments so polemic as to incite pas ft Try an uncommon Valentine’s gift this year for your special friend. Choose from perfume oils, bubble baths or glycerin soaps in over 40 dif ferent scents. Or combine your per sonal choice of body products in a un ique gift pack. Your gift-buying dollar goes farther at Uncommon Scents. ^>uite 118, The Atrium, 99 W. 10th sion in the most conservative au diences. "Comprehension,” said Kan dinsky, the Russian impressionist painter, "is educating the spec tator to the point of view of the artist.” This is just the case in Brecht s theatre and since his work first drew attention it has be come dramatic convention, a style aptly followed by University Theatre director Chi-Mei Wang in "Good Woman,” the story of three gods searching for a good human being, the alternative being the end of the world. They do eventu ally find such a person, a prosti tute, but their gifts cause her more anguish than succor, “I can't tell how it was," she says, "but to be good to others and myself at the same time, I could do it not. At the end of the play the three gods blindly judge the world good and leave it as is: cruel, un just, and unchanged, where the good cannot live and stay good. This might well stand as one defin ition of Brecht's theatre, for as he once said,"Show the world in a critical spirit—and the audience will automatically see the need for a Marxist solution.” Yes, Brecht was, above all else, a communist—and in the Germany of the 20’s and 30's a rabid anti-Nazi. He was actually so politically unpopular among the Fascists that in 1923 he rose to '++*******+++*+*+*++**+*++44444444****************' r #r#crrrr»rrrrrrrr##»rrrm A Note From We’re having a FRIDAY THE 13th SALE ... and you’re invited to pick up on some of these outrageous specials 40th & Donald EVERY GUITAR IN STOCK .... 25% OFF LIST PRICE HOHNER HARMONICAS... any that we have in stock 25% off list price GUITAR STRINGS ... 20% off any in stock (limited to 2 sets per customer) Our Friday the 13th Sale is on only Friday the 13th, 1976, and terms of sale are: no trades and cash, check, or BankAmericard. Open Friday evening until 9 .. .just for you. We’re at 40th and Donald in The Edgewood Shopping Center.LTD bus to our door. 1 +444+444444++44+444+44+44++4++4+**++*+*++++*++**++*++***++*********++***+*****++**++++*^ +++++++++++++*+++++++++*++++++*+***++*+*++**++**++* SCHOOL GOT YOU DOWN? PACE (Peer Academic Counseling and Evaluation) is a student staffed program de signed to troubleshoot student difficulties and identify appropriate campus resources. PACE is now offering academic counseling appointments to students needing help!! If you have any academic problems or questions, come to the PACE office—Suite 1, EMU 11. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 4. number five on Hitler’s death list, and was eventually stripped of his citizenship and forced to flee his homeland. On the eve of World War II he took a somewhat less didactic stance and while exiled in Denmark wrote a number of plays, including 'Good Woman of Set zuan,” which was co-authored by Margante Steffm. In his work, which he called epic theatre, the non-literary ele ments, the mise-en-scene - decor, music, dance — were in dependent and stood apart from the narrative. In this new art of awakening audiences to thought rather than staging realism or re creation, audiences should ex pect to see lighting instruments, musicians, and mechanical de vices revealed. Another great playwright of the time, Antonin Ar taud, said, "The stage is a con crete physical place which asks to be filled, and to be given its own concrete language to speak...In the true theatre a play disturbs the senses' response, frees the rep ressed unconscious, incites a kind of virtual revolt.” This gives a good description of the epic theatre of Brecht, a theatre which unfolds as a series of episodes, each build ing on the next without climax, rather than the more familiar three or five act climactic structure of dramatic theatre. Even the acting is unlike standard theatre fare. Instead of merging with the character, the Brechtian actor finds inner life ir relevant and replaces human na ture and fixed characterization with human relations and avoi dance of illusion. The actors stand outside their roles, cool, relaxed, and ironical with everything de pending on the story. Thus epic theatre tries to denounce illusion and prefers to provide an audi ence with a historical report of events. But in "Good Woman," as in most of Brecht s plays, the propaganda value of his work is swallowed up by the artistry and audiences stubbornly insist on being moved emotionally. "He doesn’t really say to change," says director Wang, "but asks if change is possible, could there be a solution " She feels "Good Woman" presents a more mature Brecht than shown in his earlier, riotous work; a Brecht who finds the theory of theatre the theory of comedy, giving the audience an opportunity to stand outside the event, and through laughter realize it is part of the scene If Wang s direction is as good as her intentions this University Theatre presentation will indeed be memorable Instead of giving the words to think about, I'll give the senses to feel," Wang says One of the most memorable lines m the play reads: A caress becomes a stranglehold, a sign of love turns to a cry of fear, why are there vultures circling in the air? A girl is going to meet her lover Wang says of it, "I don t want to limit the audience s reaction to it. When something is this strong the audience has a right to their own interpretation We don t need to give them one The audience has intelligence and the ability to react# . Jenny Neilsen and Susan Scouil Photos bq Greg Clark Everything for the ARTISTS and ARCHITECTS ' COLE ARTISTS' SUPPLIES STUDENTS & FACULTY _ DISCOUNT Please show card I II off our before purchase I W reg. prices ON CASH PURCHASE OF ALL SUPPLIES 339 EAST ELEVENTH AVE. X1 ■v Just a few blocks from campus Listen Up. You probably thought Eugene had only two great record stores. Wrongo! The Record Depo, Eugene’s newest record and tape shop, will soon be opening on W. 11 th. Besides a large collec tion of recorded music, a wide selection of posters, tapestries and assorted odds and ends are just newly stocked at the Record Depo. 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