Jonathan siegle
‘Tango’ succeeds at two steps
■'Tango,” by Polish playwright
Slawomir Mrozek, now in production by
the University Theater, is three things: a
social/political drama, a black comedy
of convention, and a serious character
piece It succeeds at the first two
Although written in three acts, "Tan
go” divides neatly in two Acts I and II
take the traditional comedy of manners
and turn it on its ear We meet Eleanor
and Stomil, grandmother Eugenia and
uncle Eugene, the oafish Eddie, and
winsome Ala They're all pretty batty
Home is a sloppy, comfortable old
house They live a bohemian existence,
dressing as they like, loving whenever
and whomever they like, going to and fro
in gentle, silly anarchy
Enter Arthur, Stomil and Eleanor's
son He wears a grey flannel suit with a
carnation in the button hole He's study
ing to be a doctor. He yearns for an
orderly world A world of conventions A
world of rules
He plans a revolution, a mad plan to
revert to the ways of old before this
decadent society took over To do this he
plans a traditional wedding, with veil and
music, and old fashioned vows
It’s all quite fun, if not a bit confusing,
and thoroughly harmless
Intermission The audience stretches,
chats, has a drink of water
Act III begins, pretty much as Act II
ended Sucked in, the audience goes
along with the comedy, while Mrozek
takes careful aim and punches out their
lights End of comedy
Mrozek presents poor, deluded Arthur
as Average Man, seeking order in chaos
Yet Arthur, like Average Man, is unable to
see shades; life is either all black and
chaotic, or all white and orderly His
family goes along with him
And in the end the order Arthur sought
is revealed. It is fascism This was not
Arthur’s goal He wanted the old order,
but that's not possible anymore. In the
modern world the orderly extreme is not
pastoral, it is totalitarian
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This is Mrozek's message We must
guard our freedom. We must be vigilant
We must be careful, lest the seekers of
order chain us to their rules
It’s a timely message
Where Mrozek fails as a playwright is in
not giving his central character, Arthur,
much life. As social commentary "Tan
go’’ is brilliant As good drama, it has
serious flaws
Yet the production directed by Peter
Davis manages to overcome these
problems and present these people not
just as symbols of political ideologies but
as interesting, even sympathetic char
acters
Davis lets the inherent battyness out
without pointing a big finger at it. It is
gratefully understated, gracefully subtle/
He resists the temptation to overdo it
The strength of this production is the
cast. They need work to tighten up the
ensemble acting, but this wlltcome soon.
Nevertheless, they work well together.
Mark Schwahn is a major talent, but he
struggles a bit as Arthur Schwahn's
timing is perfect. At one point he takes a
lovely pratfall without missing a beat Yet
he seems tesse, almost nervous in the
role of serious, deluded Arthur He
doesn’t seem comfortable on stage At
times he talks too fast He's holding
back, perhaps in deference to the en
semble.
This isn't necessary Arthur is the cen
tral figure. It's natural to build him up, get
him out front more. If Davis is restraining
him on purpose, it's an obvious strain
It’s also a waste of an actor
The supporting actors are generally
strong, with some excellent perfo?
mances among them.
Stephen Springston, brings the enor
mous free thinking artist Stomil to life
with joy and warmth His size and
gravelly voice dominate when he's on,
but don't overpower either
Dennis Murphy, as Eugene, and Gret
chen Woodring, as Eugenia, both estab
lish their eccentric, dotty old characters
without falling into caricature They are
effective and consistent
' Martin Steiner is excellent as the
oafish Eddie His rise to importance isn't
obvious. However, it is not necessary to
emphasize his mustache. Not only does
the audience get the message, but it
limits the focus of the drama.
Enid Clarke does her usual credible
best as Ala, Arthur's almost wife Clarke
is a good actor, and carries herself well
on stage. However, all her roles seem
alike. She needs some variety
This is a jarring play, a thought
provoking play. Don't see it for fun See it
to be reminded how in the kingdom of the
blind the one-eyed man is king
Due to a malfunction in the memory
• system of the Emerald's typing appara
Editor S nOt© tus the etals section will not be appear
ing Monday We regret any inconven
ience this memory failure may cause
Clark, death penalty repressive,
a tool of racial discrimination
PORTLAND. (AP) - Former U S At
torney General Ramsey Clark calls capi
tal punishment an instrument of
totalitarianism used to put down
freedom
"What you see in all of this is a contest
between freedom and authoritarianism,
fear and hatred and love and faith," he
told a conference on the death penalty in
Portland on Saturday. "To me, finally the
question is: Are we killers'5"
Clark told an audience of about 150
that the history of the death penalty in the
United States was marked by racial dis
crimination He cited what he said was a
disproportionate number of blacks ex
ecuted
He called South Africa the "lord high
executioner" for carrying out roughly
half the known executions in the world in
the last decade Last year, he said, the
South African government executed
nearly 200 people, only one of whom was
white.
Clark said the penalty had been
abolished in many Western European,
Asian and South American nations
A backer of the death penalty, Ernest
van den Haag, a professor of juris
prudence and public policy at Fordham
University in New York City, called the
penalty an important symbolic issue
He said studies provide a "preponder
ance of evidence" that executions will
deter potential murderers
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