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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1958)
0 t MAIL TRIBUNE, Medfonf, Oregon, Sunday, Spcmber 7, 195S mid Excellent Production Of 'Merchant Noted It was an excellent pro duction of "The Merchant of Venice"' last Thursday night in the Oregon Shakespearean Festival theater in Ashland but it was a sad event. When the players took their final bows, when Richard Graham had SDoken the tra ditional closing night verse from "Tempest," when tne last notes of "Greensleeves' Hied awav. manv in the au dience felt more than usual regret that another season had ended. For soon the old thea ter will be torn down, and although those of us who have made the Festival an impor tant part of our lives know that a fine, new theater will rise in its place, we cannot see the old one go without a twinge of sadness. The old building and the nlrl stage were part of the Festival's growing pains. At times the pains were ramer rrim hut these were always forgotten in the- excitement and glow of a good opening nipht. or of a scene which captured and held the audi ence; they faded away in the color and drama, were or. no consequence when a vibrant voice could be heard speaking the singing poetry. The new theater will be the fulfillment of the dreams of Angus Bowmer and all the many others who have work ed hard to build the Festival. But while the work goes on for the new and growing Fes tival, the scenes of the past will still he a part of the pic ture. This writer, for one, will never forget Paul Kliss and William Ball in their roles in the Second Part, King Henry IV; Philip Hanson as Hotspur, Clara Daniels as Regan, Wil liam Oyler as Pistol or Bru tus, Joyce Womak for her Ophelia, Joan Kugell for her Margaret in Richard the Third, or any of her other roles, Don Gunderson as Richard or Antony - the list could grow longer and lon ger. SHU Doing So Some of these we believe, with regret, will never be seen on the Ashland -festival stage again. We hope we are wrong. Others who have made acting history for the Festi val are still doing so, and each year the Oregon play series continues to attract in telligent and talented play ers from all parts of the na tion. For the season just closed, this reporter's personal Oscar .goes to Angus Bowmer for his unforgetable Shylock, and to Richard Graham for a mov ing performance as King Lear. We've seen both in the same roles before but these were richer, better rooted and more rewarding. Not being an authority on the Elizabethan period, we know not whether Bowmer's costume and wig were truly authentic but if not, who cares? They subtly accented the interpretation which he . Learn how to rake up ur Fall bills into one bundle... Get money at ME!fl PHYLA ...where it's almost fun to borrow money for Fall expenses! 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William Nye gave a satisfying performance as Bas sanio, and the quartet of friends, Rudolf E. Vest Jr., Charles A. Cook, George Rid dle and Keith Fowler, gave the proper color and sub stance to their scenes. We find Margaret Vafiadis a fine and intelligent actress, and enjoy her playing, par ticularly when she speaks of love. However, in the court room scene of "The Merchant of Venice" Mrs. Vafiadis, and for that matter, other actress es we've seen in the same role on the Ashland stage, fail to hold our interest. Some how, our .imagination balks. This year, Shirley Douglass and 'Ellen Kay added femi nine charm as Nerissa and Jessica. George Vafiadis' presence in the Festival company this year and last has been as wel come as that of his wife. His playing of the Duke of Al bany in "King Lear" added authority to that cast. For that matter, the entire cast of "Lear" turned in good, solid performances to back up Richard Graham's lead. Claude Jenkins has fine sta ture and bearing, and he uses his rich voice to good advan tage. One ' must not forget Ed ward Grover's playing of the Duke of Kent. Grover s acx ing has weight and character and his lines were delivered tn eood effect. Although not a large man, Grover is im- nressive on stase - especially when he stooped down, pick ed ud a man larger than him self - Graham, and carried him off stage. Three Daughters The three daughters of "Kine Lear" are characters in which an actress has ample opportunity to show her tal ents, and this season Director Don Loper had three able vount women in his cast. Ros- alyn Newport's gentle Cor delia was well contrasted to the scheming and unlovable Goneril and Regan, played by Elizabeth Hiller and Rachel Weller. As for "Much About Noth ing," this reviewer found Harold V. Gould an utterly delightful Benedick, and Pa tricia Moran a charming Bea trice. Gould's playing of the cvnical bachelor was keyed just right and his timing on the comedy lines faultless. His doleful attempt to sing a song was one of the most hilarious scenes of the season. We liked George Vafiadis as Claudio, and the comedy scenes of Hugh Evans and Robert Towers, playing Dog berry and Verges, were well done. Dissatisfaction Perhaps it was the fault of our lack of background, but "Troilus and Cressida" left us with a feeling of dissatisfac tion, as of something started "1 I f PACIFIC F I N A N C I - Phone SP 3-5308 Manager . . but unfinished. We have no quarrel with the playing or direction, and cannot actually explain our dissatisfaction. George and Margaret Vafiadis achieved both sweetness and ardour in their love scenes, and Vafiadis has a true feel ing for the poetry, as well as drama. We hope that the Festival attempts this play again be fore too long. At the beginning of the sea son Producing Director Bow mer was heard to say "this is a good company this should be a good season." And it was. The Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland has im measurably enriched the life of this reviewer and her fam ily in recent years, and as it has done for us, so it must do for others. Shakespeare brings us laughter and wis dom, poetry and drama, spee ches that are earthy or lyri cal; Shakespeare brings to the valley people from all over the nation,1 people with stimulating personalities and ideas who stir us up. And if you must be practical, it brings in money cold hard cash which tinkles In the cash registers all over southern Oreeon. - Long live Shakespeare and the festival! - O.S. , Disagreement Voiced To Critic's Verdict This reviewer has expressed elsewhere his .disagreement with a verdict of Henry Hewes, drama critic for The Saturday Review, that the bareness of the Elizabethan stage, and the rather strict ad herence to the Tudor example, leaves something to be de sired in the Oregon "Shake. spearean Festival in Ashland. Id his Review article, clev rlv entitled "Will ! o' the West," Hewes pursues this, saying: "One wonders if the positive values that have been achieved here would be lost if the Ashland Festival would occasionally invite a guest di rector to produce a show and allow him to introduce some modern innovations that would make the plays seem less remote to contemporary audiences." Asks What Is Remote What, one inquires, is re mote about these plays? Are they remote when they make teen-agers roar with laughter, or shed a surrepti tious tear? Are .they remote when the SRO sign is out night after night, with discriminating pa trons from every state of the union? Are they remote when pa trons who "discover" Shake speare in Ashland return (de spite the wooden seats) again and again, in preference to the best (or worst) that Hol lywood or TV can offer? These plays are about as remote as a sock on the jaw. We do not, of course, know to what "modern innovations" Hewes refers. But it cannot be costuming; we would say this has been getting better and better each year, achieving a sort of col orful mood music all its own, as it helps delineate charac ter, theme and action. Little More Asked It cannot, assuredly, be lighting. For , with handicaps imposed by a difficult techni cal situation, the lighting has reached a point of virtuousity where little more could rea sonably be asked. - Surely he doesn't want a proscenium, nor a draw-curtain, nor a mechanically re volving stage. What, then, does he want? Something, perhaps', that is just a little more familiar to him? And if so, wnat? We admit to prejudice when it comes to the lovely little bowl in Lithia park. This is the tenth season for this Fes tival viewer, and some sea sons have been better than others. But we have seen here Men and women hear again with nothing in either ear through thrilling Sonotone research discovery. Only YOU will know your E-Zone secret of transistor hearing aid completely concealed in stylish glasses. Yet you use both ears (just as normal per- E-Zon: Everything worn at EYE-EAR lvl, nothing worn anywhere else. , C. R. ADAMSON, Manager drama which was to us surely as evocative as .Oliver's "Hen ry V" or "Hamlet," or Robe son's Othello, or Evans' "Ham let" in modern dress,- or Lunt and Fontaine's "Shrew." Different-of course. But if Old Will himself is hovering somewhere around, we sus pect he's on our side. Approve Final Lines And before we leave Friend Hewes, let us recall with ap proval his final line: "The best performers . . . could be inter mingled with those of our most professional Eastern festivals to our advantage." Harold V. Gould, Michael O'Sullivan, Hugh Evans, Rob ert Towers and Nagle Jack son tickled our funny bone as it is seldom tickled. Edward Grover is a stalwart and cap able man who gave his "straight" roles credence and likeability, and Richard Gra ham's professional poise, and occasional moments of real feehng always are an asset to the festival. ' Patricia Moran, among the women, was superb as Beat rice rather better on opening night than in mid-season, al though this was probably the result of an "off-night" rather than a decline in the quality of her acting. Margaret Vafi adis' Portia grew in stature and believability as the season advanced. Standouts of Season - These, for our money, were the standouts of a generally exceptional acting season, ex cept for the one real dramatic triumph of the festival, that of mild, innocuous little An gus Bowmer, who by some theatrical legerdemain trans formed himself into a crafty, self-centered and evil Shy lock, played for laughs. And why not? Old Will never turned up his nose at a belly-laugh, any more than he tempered the prejudices of -his age with a blurring of character, or any more than he sugar-coated the animal instincts of mankind. No, Bowmer's Shylock is greasy, but funny; self-centered, and funny; avaricious, and funny; revengeful, and funny i Even the lines, which un der other auspices and other interpretations c a ri be so poignant ("I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimen sions, senses, affections, pas sions . . . ") were here, some how, ludicrous.' Here was not a Jew crying sympathy for his tragic race, but a small boy crying to another "I'm just as good as you are!" be fore spitting in his fellow's facenir, in this case, insisting 6n his pound of flesh. There is something else about the festival which makes it something apart something beyond the lights and Costumes and acting and direction and color. It has an aura. . Difficult to Pin Down The source of this light is difficult to pin down, but from the "feeling" of the par ticipants toward the entire en deavor. And in "participants," we include the audience, for they, indeed, partake of the festival, and are a part of it. -This participation breeds a special kind of loyalty and a special kind of affection. And maybe that is why the festival is such an overwhelm ing success,' and remains so, good season or poor, year in and year out. After all, isn't that what the stage is for to make the au dience ifeel a part, of what goes on?vJS.A.'5 $ jV Festival Goes Modern With View of Rocket One claim that : may be added to the Oregon Shake spearean Festival association this year would be that it is "modern" as well as being the first . Shakespearean Festival in the United Estates: Not every outdoor theatre, Shake spearean or othercould boast that the rocket of Sputnik mr. i - - sons listen) to enjoy latest hearing revolu tion recommended by doctors. Based on Sonotone bone-conduction invention, by- i passing outer ears." .- , . . .'; ; ;t COME IN PHONE OR WRITE ' ,'' SONOTONEa 839 East Jackson Phone SP 2-5904 J be viewed during a perform ance! Regardless how much this writer, reads the plays in ad vance, character identification is always hard, especially when names are not used until well into the play. Too bad the Bard didn'f use the scene in more of his plays that was used in "Troilus and Cressida" when Cressida and Pandarus were on the balcony. Pandarus quite nicely, for the audience identified the ma jority of the Trojans as they entered the stage. Particularly Good The costumes were particu larly good in Troilus and Cres sida, especially the men's uni forms. They did not have the clean polished look about them as many of the cos tumes did, but looked as though they had been worn (as if in battle)) and looked natural for the setting. This writer's vote for favor ite this year goes to King Lear, possibly because it is so well known, but then Mer-' chant of Venice is, too, widely read.' The costumes in King Lear seemed well suited to the play especially the order and belt worn by the king and other royalty. The brightest costumes were found in Merchant of Venice and particularly liked by the undersigned was the cloth ing worn by Shylock. , ' Note Lesser Roles Also worthy of note are sev eral of the lesser roles. For ex ample Hugh C. Evans as Dog berry in "Much Ado About Nothing," Robert Towers as the Fool in "King Lear" and Nagle Jackson as Launcelot Gobbo in "Merchant of Ven ice." This writer repeats what was said in 1956 that copies of the words of the s ongs sung prior to the perform ances by the minstrel singers would make .a clever souve nir book. This reviewer was also pleased to note that the singers were offering advice to smokers again this year. P.H. : Actors Are Gone, But Not at All Forgotten "Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you,. were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air:" Thusly did Richard Gra ham, quoting William Shake speare's Prospero in "The Tempest," close the 18th sea son of the Oregon Shake spearean Festival in Ashland Thursday night. . The actors now are eone. but not at all forgotten. Nor are their interpretations and presentations of Shakespeare's colorful characters, forgotten. For who is it can f oreet George Ridde's Gratiano. An gus Bowmer's Shylock, Nagle Jackson s Launcelot Gobbo, Harold V. Gould's Benedick, Hugh C. ' Evans' Dogberry, Richard Graham's King Lear, Jerry Turner's Earl of Glouces ter and George and Margaret Vafiadis' Troilus and Cres sida, to name but a few from a company of about 90 who made the Festival productions a success. Not Melted Into Air They have not "melted into air, into thin air." Nor have the costumes, the lighting, and the very staging of the plays themselves. The Fes tival's policy to stage Shake speare's 'clays as thev were staged in the late 1590's and early 1600 s will bring Fes tival patrons- back season after season. Aha! as the Ash land performances become more well-known inevitably will increase. It is not one segment : of the production which is re membered. It is the over-all presentation from actors through the technical aspects, and the Elizabethean setting including singers and dancers on the green.' . Individual acting parts, such as Bowmer's Shylock, Gra- Hearing Secret ham's King Lear and Turner's Gloucester, will be remember ed as outstanding, but generr ally, speaking, the high-caliber, versatility of the com pany is what made the pro ductions attract Shakespeare enthusiasts .from all sections of the country. Company a Good One This, year's company seem ed an especially good one, en dowed with the versatility necessary to play a leading role one night and a messen ger or a man in armour the next night. Not one play can be sin gled out as being better pro duced or directed than an other. Shakespeare was seen in all his diversified genius in the four plays; he por trayed tragic men, egotists, comics, lovers, arid fools with human qualities which per haps today a . psychologist could use. to categorize such persons. - Actors selected for the parts rewarded audiences with .top quality characterizations; they lived and die"d the parts they played; they injected into Shakespeare's verse and prose animation which brought the audience into the play; they presented the plays to carry themselves, and the under signed believes they would have carried themselves even without elaborate costumes or modem lifhting. Problems To Present If there was a play which could not carry itself, it was "Troilus and Cressida." But it would not have been be cause of acting. Rather it was because of Shakespeare him self. The long, uninterrupted passages in "Troilus" are problems to present and main tain audience interest. "Troilus" is probably one of Shakespeare's least pro duced plays, and it is under standable. It has an enormous cast of. characters, jvho trav erse back and forth between the Trojan and Greek camps creating confusion. The acting itself nn "Troi lus" was on a par with that of other plays. Mr, and Mrs. Vafiadis portrayed Troilus and Cressida admirably, and Claude Jenkins and Robert Loper fit the parts of Achilles and Hector. Better Entertainment Shakespeare's -construction in the other three plays, "King Lear." "Much Ado About Nothing," and "The Merchant of Venice," is more adaptable to better entertain ment. And entertaining they were, not because they were written by the great Dlav- wright alone, but because ex cellent- actors and actresses! were cast in parts they lived. They brought into that life Here's REAL 30 - : ..Never 'before such value for your m o n e y! Westinghouse combiries beauty and styling plus convenience and economy in this handsome 30-inch range with features found usually only in ranges in higher price brackets. Check these extras and look at low, low price! Trowbridge & Flynn Electric Co. 214 West Main the audience Although the actors now are gone, the plays remain vividly in our memory, and in another year, we shall look forward .to more productions; productions which we hope will include many of the com pany of the 18th season. - E.H.A. Shakespeare Would Let Viewer Review Play We ran into Bill Shake speare in a coffee shop in Ash land the other night. He squinted at us whimsically through the hole in his dough nut, and invited us to sit with him. We ordered coffee, black. We told Bill our problem. '"There's nothing worse than reviewing plays," he agreed. "Especially four at once. I couldn't review one. I had to take up writing them instead." We told him we didn't think we could do it either, and to make matters worse we had a deadline. Forget Being Reviewer "Well," he said slowly, "if I were you I'd just forget that deadline for a minute. I'd for get I was a reviewer or any thing else. "I'd say to myself, look here. You've been sitting out there in that theatre time and again this summer. You thought you were watching plays. But you weren't. "And then I'd say to my self, those weren't plays. Those were dreams you sat through. They were taking place right there in your own brain. "And I'd say, yes, there were some actors up there on the stage, good ones, too. But they were only there to in spire those dreams of yours. Dreams Real Plays "These dreams were the real plays, the ones you took away with you, free, after the actors were all through and the lights came back on and you trudged away through the crowds, under the stars." But you can't review those, we said. . "No, maybe you can't," he replied. "Not for other people. But you can for yourself. At least you can make them live again, those dreams I'm speak ing of, inside yourself. That's what re-viewing means after all." , Maybe that's all right for us, we said, but we have to write this review for other people, our readers. "The trouble with critics or reviewers or whatever you want to call them," Bill said, "is that they always tell peo pie what they themseves think about this or that. v. On this New West inghouse INCH Clock Minute Timer Surface Light 1001 Hear Switches Super Corox Units Spacious 23" Oven Storage Drawer Below Broiler Pan Many other features Sflfjj00 EASY TERMS you can bi suRt ...if rrs Read Between Lines "What they ought to do once in a while is tell their readers to read between their own lines. Tell them to re view the plays and come up with their own ideas." We sipped our coffee, and thought it over. We weren't sure what the boss would' think of this. "Besides," Bill said, "when you think you're reviewing a play for other people you sel dom write what's really go ing on deep inside yourself. "You write what you think you want to write, but what you don't put down, those lit tle glimpses or phrases which keep swimming around your mind, that's what the play's really all about as far as you're concerned. Each Is Different "Just remember, they're swimming around inside oth er people too. Not the same ones, because for each person the play, the dream rather, is a little different. "But why don't you try, just once, reminding people they should do the re-viewing themselves." Maybe, just this once, we thought. i Later, driving back to Med ford along Highway 99 with its drive-ins and its snack joints, we thought what a wonderful thing it was that Bill Shakespeare had come to Ashland. ' - ' He's been there 18 summers now. We hope he sticks around E.W. Westi nghouse Crater Lake Lodge To Close Sept. 10 Crater Lake National Park Overnight accomodations at Crater Lake National park will close for the season -next week, it was announced Fri day by Thomas J. Williams, superintendent. The lodge will close after the night of Sept. 9, with breakfast on the 10th being the last meal served there. Cabins will be closed after the night of Sept. 14, and the cafeteria will close after breakfast on the 15th. They will remain closed until June June 15, 1959. A light lunch will be avail able daily in the warming hut section of the cafeteria build ing as long as weather per mits, probably until late Oc tober. Thereafter the warm ing hut will be open on Sat urdays, Sundays and holidays, with lunch available, through out the winter. The road to the rim will be kept open. Gasoline and oil will be available in the headquarters area until Oct. 10. Thereafter it will be available at Union Creek and Prospect to the west, 24 and 35 miles from the rim, and Wilson Camp and Ft. Klamath to the south, 20 and 24 miles away. ' Model BLK-30 Phone SP 3-6241
