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
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^>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
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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
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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. It’s curiously hidden behind Radio
Shack and next to the Standard Station ac
ross from Drive N Save near the coin-op
carwash...
the
Record Depo
2385 W. 11th 686-2644
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