DELIA MAE PORES ON Bt

oe co m. a

Po aco ote

AMNiche Cy
Slilsh

Presents

| ETHAN /BUREA |
‘THE BAMBOO CURTAIN RISES
TRAVELCGUE FILM

narrated live on stage
by Rick Ray
NORTH VAN. CENTENNIAL THEATRE
fri. Nov. 18, 6:00 & 8:30 pm
Reserved seats $12.75
plus service charge, includes GST
TicketMaster 280-4444

Yue Family |
Realtor |

Martin Millerchip

THEATRE REVIEW .

The Visit by Friedrich
Durrenmatt, An Arts Club/
Touchstone Theatre co-produc-
tion directed by Roy Surette. At
the Arts Club Mainstage to Nev.
26. Res: 687-1644. ;

“Nothing could harm this comedy
with a tragic end more than heavy
seriousness."

ON THE face of it, director.
Roy Surette has taken the
advice of Swiss playwright
Friederich Durrenmatt to
heart.

As in the wildly successful The
‘Number 14; Surette employs the
physical skills of a talented cast and
Melody’: ‘Anderson’ s uniquely comic
masks td‘exaggerate character to’
the point of cartoon. .

The inhabitants of the little
European town of Gillen are clear-
ly larger than life from the moment
we first meet the old men watching
the trains that no longer stop in a
town that’s gone broke.
Elements of Pam Johnson’s set,
Nancy Bryant's excellent costumes,
Marsha Sibthorpe’s lighting and
Douglas Macaulay’s sound design
all reinforce Anderson's masks in a
wonderfully inventive opening
sequence that builds.and builds to
the entrance of billionaires Claire”
Zachanassian.

There was one shining moment

when'I felt | was watching some *
Chaplinesque silent movie that. had _
been treated for color. : °° * -

“Intellectually, this larger-than-
life style should work given that the
plot centres on the return of the

_ richest woman in the world to the
. town of her humble beginnings.
When that woman reveals in:
: short order: a false leg; an ivory
’ hand; husbands seven, eight and
nine; two blind eunuchs; a black
panther and an empty coffin wait-
_ing to be filled, one can readily .
understand Johnson's fable-based
take on the set and Surette’s use of
’ Anderson’s masks.

There are scenes that freeze-
framed would not look out of place
illustrating Pinocchio.

And if The Visit were only a
story I would applaud vigorously
this production's vision.

But as dratna, it tended to dimin-
ish after the arrival of the blind cas-
trati who were the last rabbits to be
pulled out of Anderson’s hat.

It’s not that the staging began to
pall, although I suspect Johnson’s
movable buildings created as many

_ problems as they solved, but that I

Photo David Cooper

WENDY GORLING is one of the many townsfolk dominated by
Nicola Cavendish's godlike billionairess in the Arts
Club/Touchstone production of Friedrich Durenmatt’s The Visit.

began to feel excluded from what
was happening on stage.

It was as if the masks them-
selves created some sort of collec-
tive emotional barrier that dimin-
ished individual nuance. I found the
community as a whole, which the
masks ernphasize, far less interest-
ing than the individuals who com-
prised it.

Perhaps this would have mat-
tered less if my emotional empathy
could-have rested where it
belonged, with Tom McBeath’s
portrayal of Anton Schill.

McBeath and Nicola
Cavendish’s Claire are the two
unmasked, or naturalistic, charac-
ters in the production so it seems
natural to expect connections to
Surette's vision through them. .

Schill was the childhood lover

_ of Claire, but when faced with a

paternity suit bribes witnesses to -
claim fatherhood of the baby that.

“will die in infancy.

. Claire, shamed, destitute and.

' pregnant, leaves town to become a

prostitute and plot her revenge.
- “The world made me into a
whore. I shall make the world into a

. brothel,” she declairns as she

defines justice as having no pity.
But as the piay begins, the town
and Schill have chosen to forget

_ much of the truth and while they

wait at the railway station for.
Claire’s return they eagerly antici-
pate what her wealth could do for
the town.

Shopkeeper Schill is appointed

. to intercede with Claire and is

promised the mayor’s office i in
return. :

Claire does indeed offer the
town a fortune, but only on condi-
tion than Schill is killed.

The ultimatum is delivered early
in the play and the interest subse-
quently lies in how the community

‘will yield to temptation and

whether Schill will learn anything
about himself.

(itis possible that there should
even be the question of whether the
community will commit murder for
money at all, but, that level of ten-
sion is absent from this production.)

T have already said that 1 found
the townsfolk less interesting
because of the choice to play-what
they represent rather then who they
are, but Schill’s fall and subsequent
rise to hero-like acceptance of his
fate is also curiously muted.

_ McBeath, whose infrequent
stage appearances are generally to
be treasured, creates a Schill who
seems aware of his guilt from the
beginning of the play, with the
result that he has no new lesson to
learn and not very far to travel to
his judgment.

See Performance page 34

osewoory
Tose

flere now: open!

gee
Shere pleased to offer
CONCTESS freasurey JAInt
Curope, Gastern Gunada-
& the US — beautiful
Sarvitre and Uccessarees
to cherish an puss-on for
generations.
4

736 Marine Drive
North Vancouver

=_—_.

_ A Romantic Comedy
by Brandon Thomas

anasonic,

*3 CD Multi Changer » Double Cassette Deck
* 2 Way Speakers ° Remote Contro| .: |
NOW OPEN EVERY SUNDAY
12-5PM UNTIL CHRISTMAS

“Vancouver Bach Choir

presents 48 @

Bruce Putlan, conductor of

Rooted in Gregorian Chant and written
at the height of the Italian Renaissance,
the dazzling orchestration and brilliant
- choral writing of the Vespets translates
perfectly to the modern concert stage.
Members of the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Generously spansored by

fue? ‘Che Vancouver Sun

Ticketmaster: a .

| New 26 - - Dec 2 i

280-3311

873-3311
872-622

Ticketmaster

Playhouse
Group Discounts

Directed by Susan Cox

" Media Sponsor

CNW PO

The Vanconver Playhouse
_ Theatre. (Company

HAMILTON AT DUNSMUIR

. Generously sponsored by