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Shakespearean

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona by
William Shakespeare. A Studio
58 production directed by Kim
Selody. To Dee. 11. Res: 323-5227.

WHILE WOMEN have yet
to shatter the glass ceiling of
the corporate ladder there is
a new breed of humor to be
found at the water cooier.

Co-habiting with the infamous
and recently resuscitated dumb-
blonde jokes are the much photo-
copied and refaxed dumb-men
jokes.

You must have heard them.

__ What's a man’s idea of fore-
play? A half-hour of ‘
begging.

What do men and
beer bottles have in
comunon? They are

~ both empty’from the
neck up.
_ How can you tell if
a man is sexually
excited? He’s breath-
ing.

’.. Director Kim
Selody's update of

The Two Gentlemen

.. Of Verona seeks to

‘> prove a literal cruth .
that justifies such jokes.

:* Leaving aside the question of

~. whether such illustration is needed,
it is a relatively simplistic approach
‘to the play.
“ However, that is not as harsh a
: criticism as might first appear.
: Two Gentlemen presents huge

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Martin Millerchip
THEATRE REVIEW

problems for modern audiences.
While impossible to date pre-
cisely, the play is one of
Shakespeare’s earliest, its plot fol-
lowing many renaissance stories.

66 (Director Kim) Selody provides his
own take on Shakespearean
conventionality, but it commits him
and the production to a heightened
thoughtlessness in which nothing
matters except sex and cocaine. 99

Shakespeare takes a pair of
lovers, shows us their aspirations,
then separates and tests them.

The men, sent into foreign cir-
cumstances, are to undergo a rite of
passage en route to responsibility.

At the end, one of them at least,
having profited from his education

ely entertaining

matures to a societal norm and dis-
penses justice for all.

Unfortunately the societal norm
of the late 16th century allowed
men to act like sexist pigs in the
name of love and still expect their
women to come to heel like the
(scene-stealing) dog in the play.

Modern audiences find it diffi-
cult to accept the traditional happy-
ever-after-ending in such circum-
stances.

Selody provides his own take on
Shakespearean conventionality, but
it commits him and the production
to a heightened thoughtlessness in
which nothing matters except sex
and cocaine.

This is not neces-
sarily a wrong choice,
but it does ignore
much of the philoso-
phy and religion that
Shakespeare is begin-
ning to question in the
play.

The song Who Is
Silvia? (hilariously
presented by Michael
Northey’s
Tweedledum-inspired
Thurio) is not just a
piece of comedic fool-
ishness. It should ask
a pivotal question on the nature of
perfection that deserves an answer
by play’s end.

But there’s not much time for
philosophy in Selody’s choices.

The production, though, is huge-

See Studio 58 page 28

For that special personalized Christmas gift select a work
of art from Rendez-vous Art Gallery

ay

Welcome

to our

Christmas Show

Now until

1009 Cambie St. (Yaletown)
Vancouver 687-7466

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Photo David Cooper

COCKTAILS AND cocaine at the court of Milan! Dean, Paul
Gibson (seated), Haig Sutherland (left) and Jonathan Teague are
part of the strong ensemble in Studio 58’s modish production of
The Two Gentlemen Of Verona. Los :

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