PLAYS: A tree blossoms
R. L. BAILEY
Kansan Reviewer
KU students have missed one of their three opportunities to see the most exciting play that I have ever seen at the University of Kansas.
"Summertree," by Ron Cowen, opened to a full house at Swarthout Recital Hall last night. It is not only the most exciting production I have ever seen, but it is also the best KU production I have ever seen. The combination of script, director, actors, technicians and musicians makes "Summertree" not only entertaining, but thought-provoking as well. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a play that could make me feel like laughing and crying without pushing it down my throat.
Ron Cowen won the Vernon Rice Award for this script, and I can understand why. It is very intelligible and well-written. But the best play would not come across without a good production crew and cast.
Steve Reed has done his part more than adequately as director. There are a number of added touches that enhance the story. He has created a vital production.
Terry Jones' sets and lights are imaginative and effective. He has managed to overcome the difficulties of staging a production in the Swarthout. In fact, I didn't even realize that it was taking place in a recital hall. The slides created a beautiful background that set the mood for each scene.
The two young ladies providing the music, Peggy Friesen and Elizabeth Stevens, performed well. The music fitted perfectly into the feeling of the play.
The actors gave a strong and moving performance. John Green as the young man filled his role well, maintaining a rather difficult character. Ruth Forman and John Ingle impressed as real characters instead of stereotyped parents. Christy Brandt as the girl did a fine job. (She has a sexy voice when she has a cold.) Kevin Brooking reminded me very much of "Litle Charly" Barnes in "The North Forty."
"Summertree" will be performed again tonight and tomorrow night at 8:20 in Swarthout Recital Hall. If you haven't seen it, you have something to look forward to.
FILMS:
Until Dark
By GENELLE RICHARDS Kansan Staff Writer
One of the better suspense movies to come along, "Wait Until Dark" achieves what many so called "horror" movies attempt but fail to accomplish.
Unlike cheap "horror" movies, this movie achieves its suspense with exceptional acting and a good script.
Audrey Hepburn provides an experience for the audience that they will not long forget. Through her well developed character she convinces those watching that she is truly a young woman experiencing a horror that she can not even see.
Watching her go through her daily routines, one is convinced that the woman on the screen is blind. Every detail in her character is that precise.
Alan Arkin provides the other exceptional performance as a mantrying to find a toy doll full of drugs, which he thinks is in her apartment. As in every Arkin performance, the character is presented to the audience with no points missed in order to make the character perfect.
Both Miss Hepburn and Arkin turning in excellent performances themselves, are backed with a good supporting cast.
In those final moments, the audience begins to share with Miss Hepburn the horror she must endure. True suspense, in the sophisticated sense of the word, brings the movie to a memorable end.
Oct. 17
1969 KANSAN 5
ROYAL
DRY CLEANERS
842 Mass.
- Front & Back Door Service
- Hour Service until 3 p.m.
Daily
- Shirts laundered
4 for $1
Mon., Tues. & Wed.
with dry clean order
7:30 - 6:00 Mon. - Sat.
THE DARK TOWER, by Josephine Edgar (Dell, 60 cents); MISS PINKERTON, by Mary Roberts Rinehart (Dell, 60 cents)
BOOKS
Two novels of mystery that are labeled as being in the "Gothic" genre, even though it would be difficult to place the Rinehart novel in that category, it mainly being a detective story with a nurse solving the problems at hand. "The Dark Tower" is another matter, and it's as Gothic as "Rebecca" or even "Frankenstein."
Soloist's first tour of U.S. busy, exciting
By GENELLE RICHARDS Kansan Staff Writer
On the large, empty stage, she sat at the piano performing the works of Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorak. Of medium height with blondish hair, she spoke excellent English with a slight Czechoslovakian accent.
Eva Bernathova, soloist with the Prague Symphony, was rehearsing for the concert tonight in Hoch Auditorium.
On her first trip to the United States, Mrs. Bernathova is finding the country "exciting." But traveling through the cities on such a tight schedule, she says she is unable to enjoy the sights fully.
The orchestra rehearses during the day and performs at night. Then they leave for the next city in order to stay on schedule.
When the orchestra performed in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Bernathova was staying near the White House. Unable to enjoy the other landmarks because of the heavy schedule, she did see the White House which was within walking distance.
The orchestra has already travelled to Minneapolis, Boston, Cedar Rapids and Chicago. While in Chicago, Mrs. Bernathova saw the Art Institute.
"My heart is broken that I couldn't see other places," she said.
Mrs. Bernathova said that the audiences had all been very responsive. She added that all of the people everywhere in the country had been very nice.
She said the KU campus was "wonderful" and she wasn't expecting to find Hoch Auditorium so large and "beautiful."
"I didn't expect to see such a beautiful university anywhere, because I didn't know they were like this," the charming pianist said.
The orchestra has performed in the country since Oct. 4 and will continue to give concerts until Nov.1.
The tour will be concluded at Lincoln Center in New York. The same program will be given there as in all of the cities on the concert tour.
Homecoming committee
Homecoming at KU, Nov. 8. promises to be one of the most colorful events of the year. The 1969 Homecoming theme is "Kansas Cookout, or a Spoonful of Pepper Helps the Buffalo Go Down."
Preparations are being directed by seven student co-chairmen who work jointly with seven administrative representatives to form the executive committee.
The Jayhawks host the Colorado Buffalos in the afternoon football game. Among halftime ceremonies the Homecoming Queen of 1969 will be crowned.
Later Saturday night, SUA will host the Homecoming Concert.
Cinnamon Troly
TEEPEE TONITE!
at the
$1.00 cover
Jct.24,40,59
experimental theatre series Swarthout Recital Hall October 16,17,18 8:20 p.m. For tickets, call UN 4-3982
DIRECTORS' FESTIVAL
Fri. - Sat.
Only
FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT'S JULES and JIM
7:10 and 9:05
Adm. $1.50
STARRING JEANNE MOREAU AND OSKAR WERNER Although Truffaut evokes the romantic nostalgia before World War I, JULES AND JIM exquisitely illuminates a modern woman. the film established Truffaut as the leader of French New Wave directors.
AKIRA KUROSAWA'S MASTERPIECE
AKIRA KUROSAWA'S MASTERPIECE RASHOMON
Sun. - Man.
Only
7:30 and 9:05
Set in the middle ages, RASHOMON probes the ungraspable quick-silver nature of truth and subjective reality.
Alfred Hitchcock's "Lady Vanishes" Oct. 21-22
M. Antonioni's "L'Avventrua" Oct. 23-24
Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" Oct. 25-26
Sergei Eisenstein's "Ivan The Terrible" Oct. 27-28
All Seats $1.50
Hillcrest