Arts/Entertainment Ancient play addresses modern probems
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Antigone will be at 7:30 p.m. today, 8 p.m.
tomorrow and at 2:30 p.m.
sunday in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in
Murphy Hall. Tickets are $6 and $4 for adults
and $3 and $4 for KU students. All seats are
reserved.
By JERRI NIEBAUM
Staff writer
Antigone will wear blue jeans instead of ancient Greek robes in the University Theatre department's rendition of "Antigone," opening tonight at the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Although Sophocles wrote the first rendition of the play 2,400 years ago, the issues that it addresses are alive today, according to Ronald A. Willis, chairman of the theatre and media arts department and director of the play.
Antigone is a 20-year-old woman who must choose between life and personal values when she acts against the law of Creon, who is her king, her uncle, and her future father-in-law.
Two of Creon's sons have killed each other in battle — one, Creon thinks, in honor and one in disgrace. It turns out that both of them were trying to overthrow the state, but Creon did not know that at the time. Creon orders that the one who has died in his favor should be buried royally. He leaves the other to rot on the battlefield.
When Creon discovers that Antigone, his niece, has broken his decree, he must decide whether he will maintain his state's order by carrying out his threat and killing Antigone or give up that order by saving a woman whom he knows has done no real wrong.
Antigone knows her cousin will not continue to live in the afterworld if she doesn't help him, so she buries him. Creon has decreed that anyone who buried his son shall be put to death.
Creen chooses to maintain order, but he gives Antigone the opportunity to live if she admits that she was wrong in burying her cousin.
"If that's what happiness means, then she doesn't want any of it," Hardy said.
She said Antigone was stubborn and idealistic and would not compromise her ideals even to save her own life. Creon then entombs her in a vault, where she stabs herself to death instead of starving.
Her fiance, Hameen, also kills himself and, as with most Greek tragedies, many of the other characters die. too
"It's a comedy about bloodletting." Willis said jokingly.
But he was serious about the play's messages. Willis said "Antigone" contained a web of issues and themes that he hoped audience members would think about after they saw the play.
He said that one of the play's themes was, "What will you put up with in order to have an orderly state?"
wins compared Creon's decision to decisions that President Reagan must make to balance the budget. To maintain an orderly state, some programs have to be cut, but a leader must decide how many people have to suffer for the state to maintain order. Willis said.
He said Antigone's decision to die
reminded him of the area teen-age who blew himself up in a car earlier
“Are you ever justified in choosing death over life?” he said.
Creon's decision to kill Antigone also brings up the death-penalty issue, he said.
“Are we justified in doing that?” Willis said. “Should we kill cop-killers but not child molestors?”
Antigone was a woman in a male-dominated world. Thus, feminist issues also are brought up, he said.
"I hope the play prods people into thinking," Willis said.
Tonight's performance will be a world premiere of a new translation of the play written by Robert Anderson, associate professor of French and Italian. He translated the play from a French version written in the 1940s by Jean Anouilh.
The characters will wear modern clothes, and a narrator will wear a punk outfit to represent a modern-day dissident.
Jaroslav Malina, a Czechoslovakian scenographer who has been visiting KU this semester, designed the play's setting. The curtains and
wings will be pulled away from the stage, and a huge muslin sheet will stretch from the rafters to the floor. A pile of wood will be on the floor, and sloping shapes of wood covered with reflective plastic will define space at the edges of the stage.
"It's a place of the mind more than
a place of geography." Willis
said.
Hardy said acting was difficult on the set because there were not properties or extraneous set pieces to act second.
"When you're up there on a virtual empty stage, it's you," she said.
But Hardy said that she had enjoyed the challenge of developing her character.
"If you don't do something with the words, people might as well just read the play," she said.
from live actors, but they also will come from a video that will serve as a news source for Antigone's 1987 audience.
In the original "Antigone," a messenger brought news of Hameon's death to the audience. In Willis' version, a newscaster with footage of the incident brings the news.
Sara Lahey, Fairway senior, plays Antigone's sister, Ismeine. She said that performing in the play had changed the way she thought about things and the way in which she made decisions.
"All of the actors in the show have gone beyond just acting a part," she said.
Lahey said the actors joined Willis in hoping that the audience also would go beyond only watching a play.
Dannv Rav/KANSAN
Antigone, played by Melinda Jo Hardy, Overland Park senior, discusses her feelings with her fiance, Hameon, played by Gregor Cunenne, Lewood
freshman. The play "Antigone" opens at 7:30 tonight in Crafton-Preyer
Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Dannv Rav/KANSAN
Sara Lahey, Fairway senior, portraying Antigone's sister Ismene, argues with Antigone in the first scene of the play.
Live music may be on the decline, bar owners say Many local bands' fans are under 21,and market for live entertainment has diminished
Staff writer
By JENNIFER FORKER
In 1985, the Kansas Legislature voted to increase the drinking age from 18 to 21 for 3.2 percent beer.
Two years later, more than half of the University student population is under the age of 21, and those students are restricted from most beer taverns in town. They aren't allowed to enter private clubs, and they miss out on live entertainment.
What effect has this loss of clientele had on Lawrence bars and bands? Some people think the law has reduced the quality and quantity of Lawrence's live entertainment scene. Others say the law is not to blame.
Mona Tipton, co-owner of the Bottleneck, a club that was formerly Cogburn's, 737 New Hampshire St., said the increased drinking age for 3.2 percent beer put Cogburn's out of business because most of the clientele at Cogburn's had been under 21.
It also had a significant effect on local entertainment.
"I do think the law could very well kill live music in Lawrence. I really do." Tinton said.
Before the increased drinking age, Cogburn's could hire many local bands. But the people who went to see bands that play "underground music," music that isn't geared to Top 40 hits, were 18 and 19. She said it was harder to get older people out to see newer, wilder music.
it's not that you can't draw music for older crowds. It's just that you can experiment more with the younger crowds." Tipton
So Cogburn's closed and The Bottleneck opened, with attempts to appeal to the older crowd. The club won't have bands for a while so that they won't need cover charges. Tipton hoped the change would draw curious people to the bar.
She said the bar eventually would return to featuring live music.
Rick McNeely, owner of the Jazzhaus, 92% Massachusetts St., said the music scene was in good shape.
"A lot of these bands out right now are great." McNeely said. "There's a lot of good stuff happening all of the time. You just have to look for it."
Bands wary of future
Brad Growcook, Lenessa senior and member of the Mahoots, a band that formed last semester, said he was wary about starting a band.
"There aren't many places to play, especially when we write our own music." Growcock said. "The odds are against you for succeeding. Everybody and his brother plays a guitar. There's not a whole lot of new music going on anymore.
He said the drinking age increase ended many big University parties, where residence hall parties, where bands could get publicity. Also, beer taverna's in bands less frequently, he said.
Dave Taylor, guitarist for the Answer, said Lawrence night life was dying out because nightclubs had a difficult time earning profits. He said that in the past, The Police, the Go-Go's and Devo had played in Lawrence.
"The liquor law made a hard business a lot harder."
"There's always been your group who will see bands and those who absolutely won't." Taylor said.
"Now it's all you can do to get in to see a band at Johnny's," he said.
He said there was no market in Lawrence to support bands.
He said that bars with live music needed to attract the middle group. He defined the middle
group as those people who didn't crave live music, but who turned to it when they tired of the dance club atmosphere and its piped-in music.
"Lawrence nightclubs are struggling to get people in," he said. "It's not an issue of people not liking music. Everyone likes music. It's an issue of people wanting to go out to a club and wanting to see a band."
He said that people weren't used to live entertainment and didn't know how to react to it. He said that a couple of years ago, people
I do think the law could very well kill live music in Lawrence. I really do.'
do.'
would jump on stage to talk to the band members. Crowds now are too hesitant to even dance to the music, he said.
— Mona Tipton owner of The Bottleneck
"It takes a good 45 minutes for things to get warmed up." he said.
He said The Answer, once a popular local band, was breaking up because bar owners couldn't afford to pay them. Many Lawrence bar owners wanted to book live music but were unable to afford bands. The Answer was unable to cover costs associated with performing.
Bars can't pay bands
Tipton said The Answer had been Cogburn's top money-making local band since it first played at the bar in October 1985.
Tipton said that people didn't
have the money to spend on cover charges, and that they would rather go to a bar that had a DJ and no cover charge. It's cheaper for bars to hire a DJ instead of a band, she said.
"Older people would rather go to a bar with a DJ or background, recorded music," she said.
Young people who work don't want loud music when they go to bars after work. They want to relax.
"Most of them don't want to hear music, no matter how fun it is." Tipton said. "I've gotten so discouraged.
"We have a lot of good talent in this town. It's discouraging to have good talent and have no one show up for it."
Ken Wallace, owner of the Jayhawk Cafe, 1340 Ohio St., said he couldn't gamble on hiring a band to play unless he was certain the band would attract a large audience.
He said five bands that made money for The Hawk last semester returned this semester to play at the bar. And although bands need exposure in bars to gain popularity and make a good income, he can't risk hiring new bands, he said.
"It's difficult to book live music profitably over a span of time," Wallace said.
Last semester, Wallace said he overbooked bands and had three bands play each week.
bums play even more,
"That's obviously too much," Wallace said.
He said the cost associated with hiring bands was too great to have that many bands play a week. Business at The Hawk is down, he said.
"Bringing in live music worked to a certain extent. But the expense of having a band is great," he said.
He said an alternative that many small bars and parties have turned to was hiring DJ's.
to was coming to
"When it comes right down to it,
if you're going to run something
"I don't think live music will die all together. There'll always be a place for it." Wallace said. "Things as they are, I wouldn't invest in a small band right now. There's too much uncertainty."
Tight finances for bands
small, are you going to gamble on a band or a DJ who can adapt to what people want?" he said
"We used to be able to do this for a living," he said. "Now being in a band is a supplemental income."
He said The Answer used to make $3,000 a weekend, and now was lucky to make $700.
One of Taylor's strategies for making ends meet is to find a part-time job, he said.
"That's how much it'd dropped in the last two years," he said. "We used to be one of the largest grossing bands out of Kansas City.
"We kind of have to roll with the punches."
taylor said that a positive effect of bands breaking up would be a surge in underground music.
But he said that bands playing underground music would be playing at places some people wouldn't go, such as the Rock Chalk Bar, 618 W. 12th St.
"It's a shame that the bigger clubs here, with the capacity to have bands, can't have bands," he said.
He also said that outdoor camp parties, like Wheat Meet and the band where bands revolved, a lot of events, were no longer big events.
Taylor attributed the live music scene's trouble to the 1985 liquor law. The liquor law decreased business for local beer taverns, and subsequently, for bands.
suggestions for minors
Taylor suggested enacting an under 21 stamp law that would
allow minors into clubs but not permit them to drink alcohol. Stamping the hands of people over 21 at bar doors would insure that minors were not served alcohol. This way, the minors would be able to socialize and hear good music, while the bars would be able to bring in more revenue. This in turn would help local bands stay in business.
"I think it's a really good idea. Other states I've been in have done it." Taylor said.
He said the underage stamp act worked at other universities in Texas and Wisconsin. In the long run, minors probably would abuse alcohol less because it was less tempting to drink alcohol in a bar, where they could get caught, then on a back country road.
Wallace favored the elimination of a city ordinance that allowed minors into beer bars without the privilege of drinking alcohol until p.m. Taking the ordinance off the book maps would allow minors to remain in bars until closing time.
"I don't know how many 3.2 bars are going to be left in two years anyway," Wallace said.
Wallace said small bars and clubs might give way to national chain restaurants like Bennigan's and Chi-Chi's.
Wallace said these places easily derived 30 percent of their profits from the sale of food and had little trouble obtaining liquor-by-the-drink licenses.
He said the appearance of such bars would mean the disappearance of live music in Lawrence.
"McDonald's has more variety than some of these bars," he said.