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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1987)
Arts and entertain II tent I -------1 Photo by Sh*rylyn HforkKrrn The cast of “Lucky Per's tourney” polishes its performance at dress rehersal Tuesday. The play, written by August Strindberg, is bein/f presented at the l Iniversitv’* Knbinsun Theatre Fri day and Saturday, and a^ain the following weekend. 'Journey' will entertain all ages “Lucky Per's Journey" will lx; the highlight ul the Univer sity's Robinson Theatre this weekend. The play, by August Strindberg, was written in the lHOOs and follows the style of expressionism also originated by the playwright. Preview by Kelvin Wee A play filled with fantasy and excitement, it revolves around tile magical adventure of a young boy named Per (pro nounced pear'). Per is the son of a church-bell ringer and has never been outside of his church-tower home. The adven ture begins when Per's fairy godmother is tricked by a troll into giving him a magic ring which will grant his every wish Per's Journey takes him into different fantasies where he learns the evils of life which his father has sheltered him from. To guide him through his journey, his fairy godmother sends a beautiful maiden named l.isa. Lisa watches over Per throughout his adventure and is there for him in the end when everyone else deserts him. Directing this production is Norma Wetzel I, a doctoral stu dent majoring in theatre arts. Them are two versions to this play, a shorter children's ver sion and the original full-length adult version. "There is really not much difference in both ver sions exc.epl we have excluded much of the politics from the children’s version." she said. "Because we have such a small cast, many of the actors play two or more roles Wetzel! added. "This is very demanding and I feel that they have done a very good job." The costumes featured in the play are exciting and flow well with the scene changes. Also designed by Wet/.ell. the costumes distinguish the various visual images which stage productions often do not allow Assisting Wetzel I with the costumes is Norm Johnson, a recent University graduate who created the masks. The musks add much to the produc tion. and without them much of the essence of fantasy would be lost Per is played by Scott I tiger, who plans to major in music sometime in the future. Niger is a recent high school graduate from Pocatello. Idaho, and is unsure ol his college future "It is a very difficult role to play mainly because this is my first college production and it lias some very long lines which I have to memorize." he said. l.isa is portrayed by Niger’s sister, kristyn Niger Truan. a graduating University senior in music performance "The first time she (Wetzell) said that he had to kiss me. I just about pass ed out " she said. "And being a very inexperienced actress, it is Turn to Journey, Page 8 'Swimming' spins one man monologue Spalding (’.ray is a storyteller. Ilis stories are sometimes hor rific. somtMi mos hoa rI - wrenching, mostly funny and always thought* provoking. “Swimming toCambodia" con veys all those elements to create a brilliant satire on humanity. Review By Carolyn l.aniberson "Swimming” is actually a film of Cray’s one-man monologue, which centers on the eight weeks he spent in Thailand while filming “The Killing Fields." Close observers may recognize Cray from his small role in that film: that of the American ambassador's aide in Cambodia before the American evacuation in 1975. What is interesting about the performance piece is how Cray relates life, death, love, sex. relationships, paranoid fears and his quest for "the perfect moment" to his time in Thailand, where “The killing Fields" was filmed. However. Thailand is not the only setting for his stories. Gray also parodies life in New York City and the aggressiveness of its inhabitants with great success. The sets ol Swimming" are not elaborate. Filmed entirely at The Performing Garage in New York City. Cray sits at a desk for the entire film. He occassiunally drinks water and points to a map of Southeast Asia. His uni que hand motions and facial ex pressions punctuate certain moods. The tone and volume of his voice also lend to the monologue's message. One of Cray's talents is his ability to change f r om his N ew England/Boston accent to New York. British and South African ones at the drop of a hat. Director (onathan Demme ("Harold and Maude.” "Stop \1 a k i n g Sense’’ an d "Something Wild") has taken the concept of the concert film into a newer plant- As with "Stop Making Sense," Demme uses lighting .tnd images pul let: led on to a screen behind Cray to add to Cray’s perfor mance and make up for the relative lark of movement in the 111 in lint even the screen images are used as an enhancement rather than a detractor The skyscape liehind Cray remains constant, however, the lighting changes as the mood of Cray’s topic changes. The inclusion of a musical score by avant-garde perfor mance artist Ixiurie Anderson is appropriate for this film. Tint music doesn't distract the au dience and isn't constant throughout the film. Instead, it draws the audience into a mood, a feeling, and lets the im pact of Cray's monologue grab the audience's emotions. There is no one message to Cray's monologue. Ranging from the blatantly political to the strictly personal. 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