Page 8
University Daily Kansan Monday, Jan. 12, 1959
Cilli Wang Calls British Theater 'Most Satisfying'
By Robert Harwi
Cilli Wang, the diminutive pantomimist who performed on the campus Friday night in the University Theatre, said in an interview, the British theater is the most satisfying and its actors the best trained in the world.
Three Battenfeld Hall residents lost $40 to a theft sometime early Saturday morning. The money was missed about 10 p.m. and campus police were called to investigate.
Thief Gets Loot, Ignores Cokes
Another thief, or perhaps the same one, cleaned out two Coke machines in Strong basement over the weekend. He took the money, but left the drinks.
About 5 a.m. Sunday Michael McClusky, Neodesha freshman, and Marvin McDougal, Fontana sophomore, heard someone going down the stairs at Battenfeld and then heard a dining room window open or shut. When they investigated they found no one, but did find two broken windows.
Kevin Remick, Kansas Union concession manager, who reported the Strong theft, said the thief might have had a key to the machines. The machines were undamaged.
Ki Sung Kwak, Korea senior, reported $5 missing, Edwin Eubank, Pratt sophomore, $15, and Tom Mason, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, $20.
Vandals Slash 17 Tires Friday
A rash of tire-slashing took place Friday night when 17 tires on nine cars were cut.
The vandalism occurred shortly after 8 p.m. during the performance of Cilli Wang, the University Theatre presentation.
Campus police had found no leads this morning to the incident.
The first slashings took place near Hoch Auditorium on Jayhawk Boulevard and Poplar Lane between Snow and Strong Halls.
Mary Jane Carter. Danville, Ill.
junior, found her tires cut at 8:30
after leaving her car at 8:10.
Wilmot Clarke, Topeka sophmore, lost only one tire. The other eight owners found two tires slashed on their cars.
Victor Elliot, 2001 Mass. St., a member of the KU police department, owned one of the cars.
Other slashings were in a Lindley Hall parking lot and the Music and Dramatic Arts Building parking lot.
International Club Elects Officers
Margaret Savage, Welwn, Herts England, graduate student, was elected president of the International Club Friday night.
Victims include Don Dishman; Salina senior; Nathan T. Davis, Kansas City, Kan.; junior; William Hunter, Harper freshman; and Ronald Hedberg, Oakmont, Pa., graduate student.
Prof. Ketzel talked of the differences between the foreign and American student and the significance of the International Club to campus life. The Arab students modeled costumes from the Arab nations and presented Arab songs and dances.
At a dinner meeting the club members heard a speech by Clifford P. Ketzel, assistant professor of political science, and saw a program presented by the Arab students.
Other officers elected were; Ernesto M. Vergara, Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, graduate student, vice president; Augustine G. Kyei, Ashanti, Ghana, junior, treasurer; Carollyn M. Clark, Mission junior, secretary; Aline Marie Roux, Finistere, France, special student, social chairman.
Try Kansan Want Ads, Get Results
Miss Wang, now making a cross country tour with her one-woman show, said the English are sometimes too well trained.
"Some people come out of Old Vic (theater) training with their own personalities lost, their voices alike, and their reactions the same," she said.
Miss Wang said such rigidly controlled training may bury the individual's flair to be creative. She cited Max Reinhardt as being a director who brought out what he could in an actor, but who never forced his own way into the playing of a scene.
Miss Wang received her early theatrical training in Vienna. She went from one school to another, trying to learn what she could do best. She joined theater groups and learned parts in many plays. She
said she tried never to be typed.
"I think it is important for an actor not to be stuck in one spot with one kind of role," she said.
"I know some actors who have spent their whole lives in one theater, with one role. It is better to have no job than to be stuck like that."
Miss Wang said she began her pantomime work after World War II, "just to be speechless." She started by acting out poems of well known writers.
Soon a poet wrote for her an entire show in which she played a number of characters. Her performance evolved into the present combination of dance, pantomime, satire and parody over a period of years.
Her present work is not a matter of learning mechanical tricks and
then performing them on the stage, she said. She believes she must have such perfect mental and physical control that she actually "is" whatever she is performing.
"Every actor must know his own body. It is all in control. The body must react easily like a piece of machinery. Members of the audience should react to a performance with the comment 'That looks so easy I would like to do it myself.' There should be no straining with the actor."
Miss Wang said she spends four hours preparing and rehearsing for each two hour performance.
She named as one of her favorite artists Charlie Chaplin. She called "The Great Dictator" his last great picture.
"Chaplin is more an actor now than a pantomimist," she said. "He
has lost his old style. He has allowed his art to be a medium for his personal philosophies."
She named Marlon Brando and Danny Kaye as two other favorite talents.
Miss Wang now writes all her skits, and makes her own properties and costumes. As part of her training in Vienna, she did handicraft work and therefore is at home with technical problems.
She still does a bit of straight acting, but only in Europe, where she is more at ease with the German language.
Miss Wang has appeared on television, but feels it is not as artistic a medium as the stage. She finds the rehearsals difficult and the space restricting. And, she says, it is difficult to tailor one's work to fit the requirements of the screen.