by Veril-Gregg

-"How real? It’s almost artifi-
cial; how dftificial, it’s almost
real." - Ayn Rand. (on ’stage’, in
WE THE LIVING).

A "tragic comedy employing
farce, satire and song and set in a
disreputable Dublin lodging
house..."(1). "Behan originally
wrote this play in Gaelic and en-

larged it, later translating it into —

English" (2).

A wild assortment of characters
grace the stage demonstrating easi-
ly that "Behan created characters
larger than life and more human
and colorful through the liberal use
of anecdote, wit and song" (3).
And this "wild assortment of
characters and incidents that are
hurtled along the wings of Behan’s
roistering, swaggering prose...vital
racy language..."(4).

' Let’s parade the cast one by one
in order of appearance, all of who
have Limey-bloke inflections.

Henry Waack as Seamus (the
pianist) at the 88 pools the music
into a real ball soundly and vitally.
Throughout the entire play he
keeps his lonely and casual sentry
talk of holding the music fort. His
finesse is years of experience as an
accomplished musician and tanks
the music flawlessly on time to the
very many _ individual active re-
quests for music.

Meg played by Darlene Ar-
cenault is very intense as the out-
spoken, ironic and racy gal whose
gumption and a ‘to hell with lies
attitude’ is top-notch.

Pat (Grant Patterson) is also in-
tense besides on stage virtually
non-stop in his superb lynch-pin
_ Tole. He is so believable, he ap-

pears nearly like a magician hold-- [|

ing up cue-cards as if relayed from
the director. Utilizing every mo-
ment fully, his facial expressions,
and gestures are uncannily exact.
To use a metaphor ‘anchorman of a
news team’...

Rio Rita (John Trottier) is an ef-
feminate homosexual in the play,
his big stature lends irony sort of
like an after the fact farce. In my
Happy End salute I wrote "John
Trottier is a very good actor". He
is.

Princess Grace (Keven Keating)
pulls over a good portrayal of
‘down to earth egoism’, which is
Behan’s overt miscast as the com-
panion of Rio Rita.

Colette (Lisa Brown) does it

again only sexily besides a living
stylization; her cute touch of read-
ing the newspaper matches the
viewers reading her, ironically!
- Russian sailor (David Jackson)
ble ‘no sweat effortlessness’ be-
speaks his earlier effort in Happy
End loudly in a sensible and timely
fashion, as the healthy virile male
in the play. \

Craig Martin as the "Monsieur",
the kilted and uprightly honorable

 

soldier manages masterfully to
make the stuffiness dignified, ac-
ceptable, besides believable. His
voice was the best, and his styliza-
tion was highly philosophically
presented.

Mr. Mulleady (Harvy Keith) is
the old man with a gal-friend (Zoe
Henderson) and both mesh together
well in a twilight romantic flair be-
speaking ‘youthfulness is an
attitude’. Her singing and uncanny
stage-strut walk are top-notch. She
plays the social worker who is big
hearted. Harvy soars in the low
place realistically.

Ropeen (Anna Marie Stricker
and Gina Laver) are amazingly ef-
fective in this muted simplistic
characterization.

Miss Gilchrist (Zoe Henderson
gets the immortal phrase "Well, if
that’s the kind of war you call a
civil War, I wouldn’t like to see an
uncivil one!" (5). It’s a bit of a
shock to see her perform a sphinx-
like massive integrated character of
a marm-bookish-religious-good-

hearted whore who despite this is

closer to ’devout enigma’.

Theresa (Angie Cachay) as the
gal who likes The Hostage (Ian
Boothby) is very effective. She
uses her beauty to great advantage
both as a female and combination
flexible styled vigour which is
more than appropriate, it’s excel-
lent! |

R.A. officer (Stephen Cooper)
as the no-nonsense, unflappably
serious character who is ironic and

has no time for yukking. His inten- .

sity is his EGO on full throttle "I’m
the IRA officer and I’m serious
about me! See?!" I see, Steve;
loud and clear-with a hotrod he
could drag the theatre to movies
without a celluloid! Super
portrayal. Excellent walk across
the stage too. Wordlessly-very
good and exact emotional
response.

IRA volunteer (Jordan West)
plays his role bespeaking dignity of
a soldier despite his clumsy ner-
vousness which gets erased by his
uprightness and heart in the right
place in a slow-motion direction
which Dorothy Jones can take
much credit for.

Leslie Williams (Ian Boothby) -
the other visiting actor, besides
Stricker - is convincing in his
boyishness as THE HOSTAGE
who is naive and finds out the grim
realities of war literally. His sing-
ing is good , and so is his acting.

Extra Policemen (Emslander,
Mushens, Mullock, and Pich) are
the 5th Business characters round-
ing out the cast and finale to the
startling conclusion of THE
HOSTAGE.

The set is top-notch, as all the
name credits attest; and, a salute to
all of them; for as the French Politi-
cal Economist once said "There is
what is seen, what is not seen" (6)

(Faces).

Dorothy Jones efforts all in-
tegrate in the scenes’ unseen is a
fine logical presentation where she

‘gets all the possible mileage out of

the entire cast, especially with
Grant and Jordan, besides Zoe and
Harvy. She propels both Craig and
Steve to ever higher plateaus giving
them both much free-rein within
the script as is also true of the rest
of the cast.

The choreography is low-key
and an ingenious pro like Lisa
Corak knows she can integrate
many aspects of dance irresistably;
such as the folk-square-dance baro-
que-like joyful opening which gets
the play revved up and going
beautifully!

"I regard it with the exception of
Brendan Behan’s THE
HOSTAGE as the finest piece of
contemporary literature in the
English theatre” (7).

A good play with excellent ac-
ting, directing, sets and marvelous
backstage work and on and off
stage efforts integrated and
manifested in the cast and set. Go
see it. You’ll like it.

1) Gelderman, Carol, McGraw-Hill En-
cyclopedia of World Drama, Vol. I, p. 297 2)
Gassner, John; Quinn, Edward, The Reader’s En-
cyclopedia of World Drama, p. 58 3) Gelderman,
Carol 4) Gassner, Quinn 5) Behen, Brendan, The
Hostage, Act III, p.68 6) Bastiat, Frederic,
Economic Sophisms, pp. 129-146 7) Raymond,
John, Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance, front inside
page

 

 

Jazz for Kids

by Aeriol Alderking

The Hot Jazz Club is havin a
Hot Jazz Easter Afternoon on
Sunday, March 27th. This event is
especially for children and there are’
lots of activities planned.

On December 13th the Hot Jazz
Club gave a Christmas party for
children. As my son’s birthday is
that day, we thought that it would
be fun to celebrate it at the club.

Several children attended the
party including the manager, Mor-
gan Jensen’s little girl, Megan.

There was a Dixieland Jazz
Quartet playing Christmas Carols|
and kids’ songs; a magician (who
lost his bird in the rafters) was
much enjoyed by his audience; and
after many traffic jams and
telegrams, a visit from Santa.

Morgan, very kindly, included
my son’s birthday and all the
children sang to him and shared his
cake.

All the children were invited to
become honorary members of the
Hot Jazz Club. My son is proud of|
his membership card and is looking
forward to seeing the Easter Bunny
you know where.

The best part though is having
him develop an appreciation for
jazz. It’s a delight to see the
children dancing and having fun.

 

 

 

 

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Hostelling

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in 70 countries

Yh 260 Hostels
in England

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For more information
contact:

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Phone: (604) 736-2674

 

 

 

 

MN
+=

the Douglas College Foundation presents...

 
   

a "Wild" and
"Wonderful" Auction

Douglas College Performance Theatre
8:00 pm on March 22nd, 1988

with

Live Music
Theatrical Performances
Refreshment Bar

Tickets just $2.00

 

And don’t miss...

ne Wild and
Wonderful Raffle

Tickets On Sale

10:00 am to 10:00 pm
March 22nd

Draw at 10:00 pm
Tickets 5 for $2.00

 

 

All Proceeds
To

   

Student
Aid

[ A TIARA }

 

 

  

(_ AND TUXEDO EVENT }

deusis FOUNCOLION

 

 

(604) 520-5400 ; 700 Royal Avenue, New Westminster, B.C. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2503, New Westminster, B.C. V3L5B2 =~ ~—

 

 

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