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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2001)
Buy 1 Combo Meal, receive 10% off Th IIrsddys in the EMU Food Court I Must present coupon at time of purchase Robinson 2001-2002 SEASON urs Freedom Pack Vouchers Set You FRE! Angels in America Part ll: Perestroika by Tony Kushner November 2,3; 9,10,11; 15,16,17 Tne Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder January 25,26; 31, Feb. 1,2,3; Feb. 8,9 A Robinson Theatre Production Hie Adding Machine by Elmer Rice April 12,13; 18,19,20,21; 26,27 Macbeth by William Shakespeare May 24,25; 30,31 June 1,2; 7,8 ' FREE PARKING Evening shouts at 8:00P.M. • Sunday matinees at 2:00P.M. UO Ticket Office 346-4363 University of Oregon Information 346-4190 Mr, WITH SPECIAL GUEST NORTH MISSISSIPPI AUSTARS SALEM ARMORY AUDITORIUM 2720 17TH STREET, NE, SALEM, OREGON OCTOBER 24 DOORS OPEN 6:30PM * SHOW STARTS 7:30PM THIS WEEK! Tickets available on li.tc at www.ticketmastercom and at all ttck&tma&t&r outlets, including G.l Joe.s, Meier and Frank locations and the Rose Quarter ticket office Tickets available with no service at Portland State University Box Office. 510 Southwest Hall (between SW 5th & 6th) in downtown Portland between 9am 5pm Charge by phone (503) 224-4400 All dates, acts, and ticket prices are sublet to change without notice, A service charge is added to each ticket price Visa, MC accepted Disabled seating available at all ticket centers Six ticket limn per person, A Cle^r Channel Event The Zoo Story’ revisits themes of past with new student cast ■ Meet Peter and Jerry in Edward Albee’s commentary on love, hate and humanity ‘The Zoo Story’ Edward Albee By Mason West Oregon Daily Emerald We are animals, and we live in a zoo. That is the basic premise be hind Edward Albee’s play “The Zoo Story,” starting today in the Pocket Playhouse at 5 p.m. The play was originally performed in the United States in the 1960s when the theme was something of a new idea. Today it initiates an ingrained “duh” response. The concept that we have an ani mal nature seems so obvious that it doesn’t need repeating. But, is that because we’ve really thought about it, or have we just brushed it off? Keeping that question in mind, “The Zoo Story” presents the scope of human interaction boiled down to two guys in Central Park. The older man, Peter, is a book publish er with a wife, two daughters, two cats and two parakeets; he is happi ly plugged into society. The younger man, Jerry, is a disenchant ed vagrant who lives in a “laugh ably small room” and skates on the brink of society and sanity. Peter is quietly reading a book while sitting on a bench when Jer ry comes along saying he just went to the zoo. Through this ran dom interjection, he initiates an awkward conversation/interroga tion with Peter that starts out with trivial pleasantries and ends with big philosophical questions about love and hate. Albee makes the two emotions inseparable, calling their combi nation “the teaching emotion.” Jerry’s coarse personality makes Peter hate him so much that they become bonded by the strength of that emotion. Jerry offers a micro cosm within the microcosmic play through the story of his at tempted murder of his landlady’s dog for attacking him as he enters his building: He tried to love the dog and failed. He tried to kill the dog and failed. But having experi enced both emotions, he finally connected with the creature, and they reached an understanding. The play requires skilled actors because each part carries equal im portance, but in completely sepa rate ways. Ninety percent of the di alogue is spoken by Jerry, played by freshman Jay Hash. While Hash starts strong, he doesn’t cover enough emotional ground to sus tain the audience’s interest. To contrast Jerry’s bombast, Peter, played by sophomore Adam Leonard, must provide sufficient action and response to make the audience believe that a real human being would actually listen to Jerry babble. Like Hash, Leonard isn’t quite up to the task. The problem is that no real per son would either talk that long or listen that long. The demands on the actors are large, and it would be surprising to see any college actors perform to perfection. The play runs today, Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. in Villard Hall. Mason West is the senior Pulse reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at masonwest@dailyemerald.com. Mulholland continued from page 5 she eventually finds out that Rita has lost her memory as a result of the accident and doesn’t even know why she came to this apart ment. Instead of being freaked out that an amnesiac stranger is in her aunt’s apartment, Betty decides to help Rita unravel the mystery of her identity. As this duo sleuths through the film, reality drifts away. Like side thoughts to their search, seeming ly unrelated scenes are interjected along the way such as a hilarious scene where a director, Adam, is Your costume (between Oak & Pearl) 687-2805 told by two men to cast a certain girl in his movie. These scenes are confusing, especially because this movie is not comical, but they be come important in making connec tions later. The film falls into complete sur realism after Betty and Rita visit an avant-garde theater called “Silen cio” where the performances are mimed to a recorded soundtrack. There, the showman tells the audi ence (both the avant-garde audi ence and the movie’s audience) to be on its toes because “it is all an illusion.” Keeping this in mind will ultimately lead the viewer to a manageable conclusion. After seeing the film, it must be defined or dismissed. To leave the movie in the form Lynch leaves it would cause many sleepless nights haunted by frustration and confu sion. Not everyone may want to take up the task Lynch sets forth. Watching the movie is more work than entertainment, especially during the painfully slow first hour. The best thing to do is watch www.TheVLT.com •VLT; The Very Little Theatre presents THE FOREIGNER A comedy by Larry Shue Directed by Reva Kaufman Oct. 19-21 *,25-28* Nov. 1-4*, 8-10 *Sunday Matinees Tickets: $12 Box office open 2:00-5:30 Wed-Sat., 2350 Hilyard St. 344-7751 the movie with an open mind and not expect any answers. Questions are left for the audi ence because not all ends of the plot are tied together. Lynch went way out there and wasn’t capable of taking the audience all the way with him. If the plot strands of this movie were represented by actual string and spread on the floor, the resulting lines would look like the road maps of 10 major cities laid on top of one another. The New York Times review by Stephen Holden stated correctly that if this movie is looked at light ly, it is silly. But, Holden says, if it is looked at with intrigue, its re ward is a feeling of accomplish ment that won’t be found in any cookie-cutter Hollywood flick. Other films that resonate with “Mulholland Drive” are “Jacob’s Ladder” and “Memento”— though those films seem so simple when compared to this one. Mason West is the senior Pulse reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at masonwest@dailyemerald.com. 011211 New & Used Vinyl’s CD’s & Tapes 258 E. 13th Eugene 342-7975 ODE ARCHIVES Find ODE stories since 1994 @ www.dailyemerald.com
