CULTURE
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WINTER PLAY TELLS A FARCICAL TALE OF LYING, LOVE AND LAUGHTER
STORY BY JAREÖ PREBLE
DESIGN EDITOR
As the few flecks of snow melt
away and the flow ers prepare
to bloom, Jim Eikrem’ s cast and
crew at Clackamas Community
C ollege’ s theater departm ent
are ch an n elin g th eir inner
Shakespeare, fasten in g their
corsets and adjusting their wigs
for their annual winter play.
“ The Liar,” written by Pierre
Cornelius and adapted for the
Shakespeare Company by David
Ives, tells the farcical tale of a
compulsive liar with a yearning
heart and a silver tongue. The play
first took to the stage in 1644.
This is the theater department’ s
second performance of the three
scheduled plays for the school.
Set in France circa 1643, the
tale begins with the arrival of
Dorante, the aforem entioned
bachelor who can ’ t seem to
speak the truth to save his life.
While stepping foot in the city
of Paris he sw iftly encounters
a handful of people, the first
being C liton , who is a lone
servant as unwillingly dedicated
to telling the truth as Dorante is
to abolishing it.
The pair encounter two upper-
c la s s w om en , C la rice and
Lucrece, who catch the eyes
of Dorante. He decides to spin
faux war stories and slaps a
fictionalmilitary title on himself
in order to win over the pair,
to which he avails. He falls for
Lucrece, though due to his own
dimwittedness he mistakes her
for Clarice, who is dating his
longtime friend Alcippe.
Confusion ensues and destroys
as this group attempts to unravel
the truth.
CCC student James Van Eaton
plays the role of Dorante, and
w hile he doesn ’ t partake in
frequent fibbing like his stage
ego, he finds Dorante’ s approach
to life endearing.
, “ I’ m the farthest thing from
a lia r,” Van Eaton said. “ I’ve
always appreciated blunt truth
and to ta l candor, but I can
certainly appreciate Dorante’ s
fla ir for the dram atic, his
exhilarated storytelling and his
bright-eyed glee in coming up
with new ideas.”
Van Eaiton has dwelled in the
realm of theater and fine arts for
a long time, and it was 20i7’ s
staging of “ A Streetcar Named
Desire” at CCC that convinced
him to turn it into a career.
Eaton endured a trial and error
process with the play’ s iambic
pentameter.
“ For me, during the early
stages of m em orization, the
rhyme and meter seemed like a
godsend. Not just in connecting
my own lines, but in queuing off
others,” Van Eaton said. “ But as I
progressed it became something
to lean on, reach for and predict
to the overall detrim ent of an
organic character portrayal.”
Student Talulabel Gilpin makes
her acting debut as Lucrece,
Dorante’ s true love. She built
up the courage to audition after
making her way through acting
classes at the college.
“ I really like the character
because she?s a romantic,” Gilpin
said. “ She wants everything to
be beautiful and be just right and
be a story.”
Gilpin has taken to her cast
over the course of rehearsals and
attributes the stellar acting to
Eikrem’ s lead.
“ [The play] started out kind of
two dimensional and over time
as Jim directed us and we figured
out the depth o f our characters,
even though it’ s a farce there’ s
still depth there,” Gilpin said.
“ The dynamic between all the
characters flows m uch better
now. We all get along really
w ell.”
x Dylan Croonquist has devoted
much of his time to the stage,
taking part in five plays during
his high school tenure. This play
marks the -first of his college
career, and while different from
highschool, Croonquist was able
to flourish w ith his cast and
crew.
“ I wanted to give this school’ s
program a shot and so far this has
been a welcoming experience,”
Croonquist said. “Jim has been a
great director who is particular
with what he envisions for his
plays, and it’ s very helpful for
his actors.”
The production of the play is
a sight to behold. Every detail
from the set to the costuming
paints "the picture of an old
fashioned France. A chandelier
hangs from the highest visible
point on stage, and it revolves
slowly as the story unravels.
The numerous locales of the
play are portrayed perfectly,
and the ever-changing lighting
paints many pictures in a single
scene. The pacing is a sight to
behold, especially with iambic
pentameter in the mix.
O vera ll, “ The L ia r” is a
w onderful production w ith a
solid cast leading the way.
The play con tin u es from
March 7 to March 10, for more
inform ation v isit the school
website.