The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1966 Page: 2 of 12
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By ROGER GLADE
Thresher Fine Arts Editor
It is not without some degree
of trepidition that one ap-
proaches a play like Jean Anou-
ilh's "Poor Bitos," for one can-
not help but feel lost at the
allusiveness, confused by an
intricate structure and over-
whelmed by certain flashes of
brilliance both in the script and
the production.
Such was the Channing Play-
ers fall offering last Thursday
in Channing Hall at the First
Unitarian Church.
Directed by David Dannsn-
baum (who has a couple of fine
feathers in his headdress from
certain Rice Player produc-
tions), "Poor Bitos" presents
the tragedy of a man driven by
special scorn and essential ego-
ism to the disaster of cruelty.
Revolution Re-Lives
Andre Bitos is a latter-day
Robispierre who is invited to
portray the role at a "wig p*r
ty" given by one of his latter-
day friends (Maxim). The whole
idea is simple, Maxim hates
Andre, and, in order to humili-
ate and possibly murder him in
the "proper" manner, he sets
up a little "charade."
All the guests show up in
French revolutionary personae
which, presumably, will let them
each tell Bitos what they really
think of him. Maxim is careful,
for he scrupulously picks his
guests to fit their roles in such
a fashion that the revolutionary
interplay becomes indistinguish-
able from the contemporary.
Is Andre really Robispierre ?
Is Maxim really Saint-Juste?
And who was Saint-Juste,
anyway ?
History
Heavy allusiveness on the
part of Anouilh tends to make
the play bewildering to the un-
educated. There is certainly
The Rice Thresher
eautem
Tiie Rice campus is dea$.
There is no crisis, no crusade, no cause. There are
no (actions, no organized groups of dissenters from the
officially-proclaimed path of co-operation by and for all.
Yv e ask why: is the campus dead because its problems
lack only the cranking-out procedure for their solution?
No. I he campus is dead because the frustrations en-
countered by those who have dared to tackle those prob-
lems have driven them off, and no one cares anymore.
Beneath the placid calm, the contradictions remain un-
tamed and largely unchallenged.
The William Marsh Rice University for the advance-
ment of letters, science and art is fast becoming a high-
pressure, totally unimaginative knowledge factory. And
this while Rice's potential for preserving itself as a
stronghold of liberal education is so great! For Rice
remains small, secure and free.
We look back with some nostalgia to years not long
past, when a group of students and teachers could see
themselves as the vanguard of liberal revision, battling
the entrenched forces of repression and reaction. The
.trnsup mutually reinforced itself; many somehow pro-
duced time and energy to dedicate to the betterment of
i-iice: they had new ideas and strong wills.
Now these faculty people are gone, going or de-
pressed: one hears only "nothing can be done to save
this place." They either get out, or retreat into their
private research and advancement. Students, too, re-
treat completely into their books, serving their own
futures and careers, taking what they can from this
University education; they abandon their *books only
for beer.
The situation is not unlike that in our national gov-
ernment, where most no longer ask the question of the
Kennedy era — what can we contribute — but seek
primarily what they can get out of the system.
There is a much older Rice which we are too young
to remember, but of which we have heard and read: a
"sleepy" Rice, academically tough, perhaps, and full of
traditional tension-easers such as hazing and Aggie-type
pranks.
But Rice began a revolution not long ago; the In-
stitute renamed itself a University ;*it began to grow ; it
asserted new and lofty aims. Its presidency changed
several times. New people came; and many were excited
about making Rice better.
Now we have relapsed. Rice is 'a factory. Its people
work hard to get out; they seek no involvement here.
There is no more revolution, if ever there was one—if
ever there was more than a hope.
Now, seemingly, even the hope is dead. We mourn
its passing. • —SJC
interplay between characters
which we miss, simply because
we do not take part in the his-
torical context.
But, that aside, Anouilh
mounts his drama splendidly.
Drawing on an audience reser-
voir of pity, Anouilh wrings
tears for the washerwoman's
son (Andre) and then disgust
for the same man as dema-
gogue.
In the end, we are happy to
see Bitos escape the ultimately
cruel fate that Maxim and the
others have prepared for him,
but we loathe him just the same.
Whether Robispierre was
really like this is another mat-
ter, but essentially an iri*ele-
vant question. For, if one ac-
cept's Anouilh's historical con-
text, one must accept his his-
torical characterizations.
Time Reversal
While the idea is simple,
though, the structure is in-
volved. Perhaps (and here one
must stress the w o r d "per-
haps") it is too involved.
That the revolutionary char-
acters are used to permit con-
temporary machinations is pret-
ty clear. However, come the
second act, one is faced with
the incredible situation of the
contemporary acting on the
revolutionary.
For it is most certainly true
that Bitos does not appear in
the second act, but rather
Robispierre. We do not see the
playboy Julian but the playboy
Danton. We miss the petty
deputy assistant prosecutor but
see in his place the demagogue
of the reign of terror.
And, one can only wonder
why.
If there was a point in doing
this, this reviewer missed it.
But, in the final analysis, it
makes good enough theatre to
let the audience leave without
noticing.
Top-Notch Performances
In the face of such a strange
show, the Channing Players are
to be commended for having
succeeded at all—the fact that
their production was truly ad-
mirable makes the evening all
the more worth it.
True, there were some rough
spots and one can only wonder
at some of the glaring mis-
casts evident (one can only sit
in awed silence at the fact that
one is expected to believe
Miriam Merritt as a sweet
"Poor Bitos1
young Lucille).
But more important is the
•greater number of absolutely
top-notch performances. Jim
Bernhard as Julian/Danton
walked away with top honors
only after fighting Alfred Casas
(Maxim/Saint-Juste) for the
title.
Fervor Overcomes Him
Rodney Morgan in the title
role is more than adequate on
the whole and brilliant in short
spurts. The second act proved
his constant nemesis, however,
when he let his religious fervor
get the better of his cold calcu-
lation. Still, both as the
petty bureaucrat and the mad-
dened head of state, he pro-
duced a character of frighten-
ing proportions and dimension
in the more intimate sequences.
Others worthy of note include
Dennis ("The revolution can be
a bore") Kear, Roland Gallion?
and Marti Marr, all of whom
lent moments of essential the-
atricalism.
Except for some of the ob-
vious and unavoidable pitfalls
that confront all amateur pro-
ductions, "Poor Bitos" came off
very well indeed.
Symphony 1drama' lacks precision
By MIKE KARCHMER
Thresher Music Reviewer
If the Monday night concert
of the Houston Symphony
wasn't inspiring, it was cer-
tainly educational — from the
standpoint of both content and
performance.
Throughout the concert, Sir
John Barbarolli's tendency of
conducting for dramatic effect
rather than precision came
through, often to the detriment
of the music.
The program began with a
performance of Beethoven's Eg-
mont Overture, a powerful
work which carries as its mes-
sage the struggle for freedom
from oppression. The middle
sections were all very polished
and well-played. But the open-
ing and closing parts were im-
precise, detracting noticeably
from the whole performance.
Lack of Content
Next followed Frederick De-
bus' tone poem ' A Song of
Summer." The work is a re-
laxed succession of crescendos
and diminuendos, pleasant to
listen to, but with little con-
tent. Impressionistic in concep-
tion, it is rather restrained and
unemotional. The work was the
*
best performed piece of the
evening.
The soloist for the evening
was violinist Hugo Kolberg and
the concerto was the rarely
played Piston Violin Concerto.
This concerto isn't currently
available on records. That's too
bad, but on the other hand, Mon-
day night's performance wasn't
one that would motivate many
of the audience to run out and
buy a copy if it were.
No Communication
The first movement was con-
ceived as a dialogue between
soloist and orchestra, but un-
fortunately there was no com-
munication. The slow second
movement was not noteworthy,
but mercifully short. The third
movement was typical Piston:
clever, inventive, and pretty
good—but not good enough to
make amends for the first two.
The final work of the even-
ing was the melodius Dvorak
Symphony No. 7 in D Minor.
One can't help but contrast
the Delius and Piston pieces
with the Dvorak symphony.
The first two composers knew
..exactly how to say what they
wanted to, but had little to say.
Dvorak, however, had so much
to say, but lacked technical pol-
ish. As a result, his orchestra-
tions are sometimes bulky and
a little long.
Sir John overconducted the
symphony. I think the score
calls for control in order to
bring clarity to the piece. In-
stead, Barbarolli played the dy-
namic tempo changes for all
they were worth, vividly drama-
tizing each rise and fall in dy-
namics. The effect was one of
muddying the potentially clear
stream.
For you and your Yum-Yum
Glade fiddles while Houston burns
By ROGER GLADE
Thresher Fine Arts "Editor
Snaking its way lizard-like across campus this
week is an ugly (although more than likely true)
rumor that the Humble building is constructed
of faulty girders and is about to fall across
town on top of the Alley theatre.
We can of course hope that it will fall the
other way and thus topple the Sheraton Lincoln
onto the Foley's building which in turn could bury
Jones Hall.
In the end the result would, of course be
catastrophic for the Houston populace, but would
more than likely go completely unnoticed on the
Rice campus.
Granting then, that downtown Houston is to
be totally destroyed by the domino-like collapse
of the sky-scraper system, we can only assume
that you have to get out of the downtown area
this week-end.
Unless you fancy watching the "Jesus Saves"
sign on Main Street being crushed to multi-
colored fragments by the Foley's sign.
Hence:
PUREE OF EEL: Buy your tickets now for
the finest show to hit Houston in a millenium—
"The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul
Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the
Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the
Marquis De Sade" is coming for a two week
stay at the Houston Music Theatre. IT CAN-
NOT BE MISSED. (Novembr 15 opening).
Also, opening a little sooner is "Half of Six-
pence" at the Music Hall (which, by our calcula-
tion, should suffer only slight damage from the
coming holocaust. Beware of rats and pollution,
however, as the area might well be flooded.) Go
if you dare (November 4 and 5).
SAUTEE OF GOPHER:
Paris Theatre: "Orgy of the Golden Nudes"
Heights Art: "The Sin Syndicate"
Pussycat Theatre: "Peepshows of Paris"
Art Cinema: "The Price of Flesh"
RMC: "The Mouse That Roared"
PEACHES WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE:
Delman: "Gigi"
Alabama: "Sound of Music"
Clear Lake: "Cleopartra"
CRUSHED RASPBERRIES:
Sir -John and his troupe in another series of
musical escapades through - the red-carpeted
wastes of Jones Hall. Also Maurice Chevalier.
Also in the doomed edifice: Lenny Dee in the
First Annual Holcombe-Lindquist "Sunday Sere-
nade."
PARTING TASTE:
Best Bet: Friday, Third annual "Let's-Throw-
Deep-Red-Dye-in-the-Mecom-Fountain" Gala Fes-
tival. Must attend with mind blown or wearing
black tie. Saturday: "The Poppy is Also a
Flower" (River Oaks) (Excellent). Sunday: "The
Mouse that Roared" (RMC).
Total Cost: $3 (acid not included).
THE RICE THRESHER, NOVEMBER 3, 196 6—P A G E 2
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Coyner, Sandy. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 3, 1966, newspaper, November 3, 1966; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth244983/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.