PLAYS: Destry Rides Again
Bv JONATHAN JORDAN
BY JONATHAN JORDAN
The small western town of Bottleneck served as the location of a deadly conflict between the forces of justice and those of fascism at the University Theatre June 12 and 13. The play, "Destroy Rides Again," which will be performed at numerous U.S. bases in Europe under the sponsorship of the USO, successfully disproves the contention of some that the United States is a militaristic nation.
The hero of the play, Destroy, played by John M. Myers, Springfield, Ohio, graduate student, refuses to wear a gun and declares that a man who lives by the gun can expect a bullet in the back. And what militaristic nation
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6 KANSAN June 19 1970
would send that message to its troops overseas?
But the pacifistic overtones of Destry's behavior, although quite strong, cannot fully explain the play. For even though Destry and all the other characters still alive at the end of the play pile their weapons in the center of the stage, piously singing about the evils of living by the gun, Destry still was forced to wear his shooting iron at the showdown and only survived because Frenchy shot Rocky before Rocky could shoot Destry.
We can explain "Destry Rides Again" if we compare it to the events leading up to WW II. As the play opens, rancher Clagget is trying to recover his ranch from Kent. Kent, town gambler and outlaw, terrorizes the town with the aid of his three sidekicks, Bugs, Gyp and Rocky. Sheriff Kaegh intervenes and is shot dead by Kent.
The town drunk, Wash Dimsdale, is appointed Sheriff in the belief that he will not interfere with Kent. Dimsdale, however, sobers up and calls upon Destry to come to Bottleneck and help clean the town up. Destroy comes at Dimsdale's request and does clean up the town, but not before Dimsdale is shot in the back by Kent.
II. Kent is Nazi Germany, Bugs, Gyp and Rocky are the Soviet Union, Japan and Italy, and Sheriff Kaegh is France. Dimsdale's role can be interpreted as the role of Great Britain, while Destroy, with his curious streak of pacifism and superior fighting power is the United States. While there are some differences in the course of history and this play, they are still amazingly similar.
The acting was quite good. John Ingle, Kansas City, Mo., junior, easily handled the difficult role of Kent. The coldbloodedness and malevolence of Kent was quite clear. John Young, Kansas City, Kan., graduate student, who played Wash Dimsdale, gave a noteworthy performance. Young, who previously starred in "The Hostage," excellently portrayed the drunk Dimsdale, and convincingly turned him into a determined peace officer.
The comparison between the play and WW II is that the various characters can fulfill the roles of the nations that fought in WW
One problem of reviewers is that they are paid by the word and consequently tend to see meaning where there is none. It is possible that I have read too much into "Destroy Rides Again," but a play in which three people are killed in a gunfight, a fourth is shot in the back during a jail break, a fifth is murdered off stage while a sixth awaits hanging in the morning would not have come as far as "Destroy Rides Again" if it was merely a musical comedy devoid of any meaning.
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