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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1962)
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON WEDNESDAY. JULY 25. 1962 'Coriolanus' Said Absorbing Production at Festival Theater Shakespeare's tragic heroes i are complex men who wrestle in a death struggle with the knottiest possible problems in ethical and moral relation ships. Events, as well as other men, seem to conspire against them, and they inevitably lose. But in their defeat each reasserts the basic nobility of man, reminding the audience that there is virtue in the bat tle well fought, that there are principles worth dying for, that there is meaning in the midst of meaninglessness. "Coriolanus," the fourth in this year's cycle of plays staged by the Ashland Shake spearean Festival, is such a play, and the protagonist is such a hero. A near capacity first-night audience gathered in the Fes tival theater last night to watch Director J. H. Crouch's uneven production of the play. It was only partly a satisfy ing experience. Possesses Flaw A standard explication of the heroes in classical drama is that each man, no matter how great or powerful, pos sesses a "tragic flaw" in his character, an Achilles' heel of some kind that will make him vulnerable to fate and be the certain cause of his doom. Using that approach, for example, Agamemnon was guilty of hubris, Oedipus suf fered from an uncontrollable temper, and Macbeth was cor rupted by a lust for power. With Coriolanus, the appar ent flaw is an excess of pride fused with a volatile temper. Unfortunately for him, his wily enemies, the tribunes Sicinius and Brutus, know exactly how to trigger the combination. Sat Against Ethics The problem is that set against the expedient ethics of his friends, and the spine lessness of the Roman citizens of common rank, Coriolanus' "flaw" appears to be shining virtue and not a defect at all. Director Crouch seems to have shored up this problem by injecting an element of Freudian psychology into the play. Indeed, in the director's notes in the program, he re fers to an article soon to be published In The Psychoana lytic Quarterly. He develops a man un naturally attached to and dominated by Volumnia, his mother. Crouch's appar e n t motivation for the suicidal risks Coriolanus takes in bat tle is the desire to satisfy a mother whom he can never satisfy short of death. Dwells en Wounds She dwells lovingly on each wound that he has re ceived in his many battles (she's even kept count of them), and it is clear she is the kind who would much i rather her son earn a Purple j Heart than a Good Conduct medal. Her motivation? Inexplic ably, she would rather seem to be a man than the woman she is. so she attempts to ap propriate her son's body. And her ambition knows no bounds. I Hounded by it, and made ramrod stiff by the pride she has inculcated in him, Corio lanus blunders like a con fused bull. He is upset by genuine praise, distrusts and is repelled by emotion, and seems happiest when he has a bloody sword in his hand, hacking at physical forces he can cope with and understand. The Festival is fortunate that Peter D. MacLean was available to play Coriolanus, for he was the only one we saw on the stage last night who could have come within a country mile of handling the role. Visually, he was the per fect proud Roman warrior. Overshadowed Otheri Unhappily, he totally over shadowed everyone else in sight, so that a group of, un usually weak supporting play ers seemed so much the weaker. However, all is not on the credit side with MacLean. His pitch and volume were nearly unrelieved by variation throughout the play so that there was no demarcation be tween the moments of high drama and the scenes with lesser impact. Probably the most accom plished actor on the stage was Rod Alexander, who brought a wit and versatility to the role of Menenius that pleased the audience and livened the play. There were some incon sistencies in his characterisa tion - his strength and age seemed to vary - but it was easily .the most satisfying per formance of the night. The demanding role of Vo lumnia, Coriolanus' mother, was capably handled by S'isan Brewer. One could have '.v ish ed that she could have appear ed a bit older, but she gave the part an icy strength and power that lent credulity to her son's actions. Scenes Exciting Director Crouch's staging of the battle scenes was ex citing and one involuntarily held his breath when the swords started flailing about, but he erred in attempting to do too much with too few actors. The audience involuntarily laughed when the gates of Corioli were stormed by a Roman legion of a scant half dozen soldiers. We recognize the company is perforce lim ited in numbers, so that any attempt at realism in such a scene is bound to fall short. Perhaps some method of blocking might have been used, however, whereby num bers were suggested and left to the imagination rather than literally shown. But, the defects picked out by the jaundiced eye of the reviewer notwithstanding, it is a fast-paced, absorbing pro duction which held the rapt attention of last night's audi ence to the final curtain. And so it will be with all others who are fortunate enough to see it this summer. G.H.B. WITH WING Pfc. Robert G. Criswell and Pfc. Robert E. Walker are serving with the Third Ma rine Aircraft Wing at the El Toro Training Corps air sta tion, Santa Ana, Calif. Criswell is the son of Mrs. Mae A. Criswell, 622 South Central ave., and Walker is the son of Mr. and, Mrs. Jack Walker, 2415 Lyman ave. Car Court Group To Check Rumor A committee representing the Jackson County Motor Court association voted re cently to send a committee to Weed and Mt. Shasta, Calif., to investigate a rumor that most tourists are going by Highway 97 or the coast route because of misinformation about poor highway condi tions on Highway 99. The highway committee re ported at a recent meeting that 20 per cent of all visitors to Seattle, Wash., are pulling trailers or are using camp facilities. The committee selected to go to Mt. Shasta and Weed will have its travel expenses paid, it was agreed. The com mittee plans to contact the Ashland and Medford Cham bers of Commerce to seek help with this program. William (Bill) Patton, gen eral manager of the Shake spearean Festival, showed an aerial view of the Ashland theater and told of the wide appeal of this unique theater. An average of 80 people daily tour the theater, he said. The present 12 active Shake spearean Festivals in the Unit es States increases the com petition considerably, he noieo. The Ashland theater is the only one, however, that has no subsidy nor government help and maintains its own operational costs by box of fice receipts, he said. Rain Brings Relief In Alaskan Forests Anchorage. Alaska - IUPD - Rain and the forecast of more in the next few days brought welcome relief Tuesday to firefighters combating nine forest fires covering approxi mately 19,150 acres in West ern Alaska. Meanwhile, in the northt rn district, Bureau of Land Man agement officials reported that the two largest blazes there, one near Hughes and the other near Shungnak. "are pretty well under control control now, thanks to the rain. A total of 144 men were on the line at Hughes and 71 more were at Shungnak. Offi cials said that only four fires were still burning in the dis trict Tuesday and that all were manned. ACTIVE DUTY Lt. Col. Howard B. Shontz has completed two weeks an. nual active duty training at Oakland A r m v Terminal. Calif. He is reeularlv assicneri to the U.S. Army Reserve school in Sacramento, Calif. He is emDloved hv the tJnl versity of California at Davis as registrar and admissions officer. The son of Mrs. Alma Shontz. Route 1. Gold Hill Colonel Shontz received his master's degree in education from the University of Call fornia in 1958. RECEIVES AWARD Pfc. David L. Baker, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Baker, Butte Falls, recently received safe driver award for driv ing one year without an acci dent or traffic violation. Ba ker is assigned to the 507th Ordnance company, Hanau, Germany. He attended Butte Falls High school. Kennedy To Break Ground for Dam Fresno, Calif. - IUPD - Presi dent Kennedy will participate in groundbreaking ceremonies for the $400 million San Luis dam and reservoir project this year. Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall telegraphed Ralph M. Brody, general manager and chief counsel for West lands Water District, that the President would appear. Brody is in charge of arrange ments for the ceremony. The ceremony is expected to take place after the middle of August. Also expected to attend the ceremony were Gov. Edmund G. Brown, U.S. Sens. Thomas H. Kuchel and Clair Engel and Udall. The reservoir and 300-foot high earth fill dam will be one of the key units in the project to transport Northern California water to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The dam will be completed by 1966. REASSIGNED Airman Second Class Jerry E. Leach, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Leach, 438 North Main St., Ashland, has been reas signed to Lincoln Air Force base, Neb. He is a recent grad uate of the United States Air Force training course for air craft radio repairman at Kees ler Air Force base, Miss. Fire Weather Forecaster Named at Local Station A 5 As a result of an increased appropriation, the US. de partment of commerce has created a fire weather office in the Medford station of the weather bureau. Named to run the branch was James K. Tyrrell, fire weather meterol- ogist. Tyrrell and his wife, Char lcne, moved to Medford re cently. They have two chil dren, Janice, 11, and Michael, 8. and are living at 681 Sun rise ave. A native of Manistique, Mich., Tyrrell has served with the weather bureau for 12 years in various parts of the United States. Before moving to the Rogue valley he was assigned to the bureau in ADLAI SEES PREMIER Rome - IUPD - Adlai Steven son, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, conferred Tuesday with Italian Premier Amintori Fanfanl. Stevenson planned to leave for Greece today. Sheridan, Wyo. Tyrrell attended Central Michigan college and took ad vanced meteorology courses from Pennsylvania State uni versity. His job is to predict fire weather conditions for the southern Oregon district of the weather bureau. This in cludes jurisdiction over four federal forests, Siskiyou, Rogue River, Winema, and Fremont National forests; Cra ter Lake National park and state lands. Although Portland and Sa lem have had fire weather of fices for some time, it Is only as a result of the increased appropriation that offices have been established here. In Klamath Falls, and in Pendle ton. ON LEAVE Pvt. William Nelson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Nelson, 775 Walker ave., Is home on. leave from Fort Ord, Calif. Nelson, graduate of Ashland High school, is taking basis training. A WOMAN'S TOUCH Waterbury, Conn. - IUPD - A local gas station operator ap parently thinks his busin-ss needs a woman's touch. Ha notified the state employment service he needs four or live women to pump gas, supply oil and clean windshields. FIRE FORECASTER Jim Tyrrell has been named fire weather meteorologist, new post created in the Medford dis trict of the Weather bureau. The fire weather office has charge of predicting fire conditions in the district for both federal and state forests. Tyrrell is the first meteorolgist as signed to the new post, and moved to Medford from Sheridan, Wy. FUNERAL INSURANCE The Oregon State Funeral Di rectors' Association (over 130 members) heartily recommends the Oregon Funeral Plan Insur ance to you. It't wise to investi gate now. May we assist you? LITWILLER FUNERAL HOME Highway 66 at Norms'! Ave. Ashland Dial 482-2816 C. M. Lirwiller 77" Mrs. Lltwlller Ashland's Leading Funeral Director Since 1935 8AVEI p save. psAvgrp; SAVE! SAVE1 The new sales record is Rambler's, but The Savings are all yours! See how little it costs to own a fine new Rambler now! Rambler dealers sold a record shattering 800,000-plus cars in the past 9 months a third of a million of them new Ramblers. 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