Renowned Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk (left photo, with
glasses), the director of the epic film War and Peace, is currently
completing a Soviet film about John Reed, to be distributed
} under the title Red Bells. Slated to be shown to both Soviet and
international audiences later this year, it is based on the first ten
days of the October Revolution — the “ten days that shook the

Soviets completing new film on John Reed

TASS PHOTOS—N. MALYSHEV

world” — and the famous American communist who chronicled
them. Italian actor Franco Nero (inset, right) plays the part of
Reed in the film while an American actress Sidney Rom plays his
wife Louise Bryant. At left with screenwriter and director Bon-

darchuk is cameraman V. Yusov.

‘Last Call’ a lively antidote to cold war

LAST CALL: A Post-Nuclear Cab-

- aret. A Tamahnous Theatre pro-

duction directed by Susan Astley.
At the Vancouver East Cultural
Centre, 1885 Venables, Van. To
Feb. 20.

If the cold war tactics of the
Reagans and Haigs of this world
have you tossing and turning in
your sleep about a possible hot war

| In the not-so-distant future, you

Might find cathartic release in
Fapsbnous Theatre’s latest offer-,
Last Call! A  Post-Nuclear
Cabaret, currently premiering at
the Vancouver East Cultural Cen-
tre, takes the ultimate human
gedy, a nuclear holocaust, and
turns it into an essentially
umorous song-and-dance
Toutine. The result is an clever,
deftly-executed musical that rein-
forces the point that peace and
pea auclear groups have been lec-
fog and demonstrating about
ue decades: the nuclear arms
peep can only lead to the
mate ruin of humankind.
Last Call takes place entirely
within the bombed-out shell of a

cabaret, in which one essential item
has miraculously survived — a
grand piano. This is important
since the only two human survivors
of the nuclear war — Bartholomew
Gross (Morris Panych) and Eddie
Morse (Ken Mac Donald) — have
come to this spot to perform their
songs for a non-existent audience.
Or perhaps there is an audience, in
Gross’ fevered imagination, made
up of the souls of those millions lost
in the nuclear annihilation: *‘A fine
audience,”’ he sardonically

~zémarks, ~‘‘scarcély a mutant.’

among them,’’_

There could hardly be more il-
matched pair than the aptly-named
Gross and Morose, two social
misfits who never could have met,
much less fraternized, before the
conflagration. Gross is a convict,
armed and decidedly dangerous
(having already dispatched another
survivor, we are told, for the sake
of the victims suit) Morose is a
musical misanthrope, a life-long
recluse until the nuclear explosion
blinds him and sends him out into
the wasteland to meet and be
shanghaied by Gross, who needs
his talents as a pianist.

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Vancouver, B.C. V5K1Z5

253-1221

Ken MacDonald (I) as Eddie

Morose and Morris Panych as
Bartholomew Gross in Tamah-
nous Theatre’s Last Call.

Within this scenario, the musical’
strikes a delicate and successful
balance between two themes: one is
the war and the people who pro-
duced it, hilariously lampooned
through the songs and dialogue;
the other is the tension between
Gross and Morose, who, outcasts
that they were, seem to serve as
symbols of the recently departed
civilization with which they were at
odds.

In their fractious relationship,
Gross is a gun-wielding oppressor,
whose homicidal tendencies are

pee STREET PLAYE sil

PRESENTS

Pete Seeger

Saturday, March 6, 8:00 p.m.
QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE

CBO, 501 W. Georgia
All Lower Mainland Woodwards,
AMS UBC, A & A Records:
Lansdowne Mall, Richmond

Charge it 687-2801

—

brought out by the radiation
sickness eating away at him and
Morose is his surly victim. The
reclusive artist’s sole response is to
wish Gross would go away; only
when he realizes his life is at stake
does he take action.

Actually, Morose acts in only
one of Last Call’s two endings, the
first, which brings a relatively
positive resolution to the
Morose/Gross conflict. It is this
dual-ending concept that perhaps
pinpoints the musical’s political, if

* not artistic weakness. The authors,

Panych and MacDonald, are un-
willing to make a strong statement
on the ability of humankind to
resolve its differences and live in
peace, So we are given an either/or
choice of endings in a production
that does not lay the blame for
arms escalation and its catastrophic
results on any one in particular. It
could be governments, or perhaps
just humankind itself.

Given this approach, these lyrics
from the song which ushers in and
ends the production cold be either
seen as last-chance optimism or
cruelly mocking:

Last call, last chance of all

Forget all your sadness and sorrow

Let’s drink.a last beer

As friends while we’re here

And maybe we'll be here to-
morrow.

But Last Call does makea strong
statement against nuclear madness,

-and in this era of Reagan cold-war .

aggression, the musical is amuch-
needed antidote. Excellently writ-
ten and performed, it deserves a
spot on CBC national television,
although it’s not likely to get it. But
Lower Mainland residents at least
havea chance to seeit until Feb. 20,
and to pick up literature listing all
the local peace and anti-nuke
groups from a prominent table in
the lobby.
—Dan Keeton

@ Real Estate and Conveyancing
“@ Divorce and Family Law

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Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1N8

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Offers a broad range of legal services including:
@ Personal Injury and Insurance Claims

& Labour Law
@ Criminal Law
@ Estates and Wills

CLASSIFIED
ADVERTISING

COMING EVENTS

MAR. 6 — PETE SEEGER at the
QE Theatre. Tickets avail. at Lower
Mainland Woodward's stores, CBO
(687-2801) and UBC.

MAR. 20 — Mac-Pap annual ban-
quet and dance. Russian People’s
Home, 600 Campbell Ave., Van.
Tickets avail. at Co-op Books or
Tribune office.

MAR. 27 — Don’t miss “Youth
Month” family night cabaret. Per-
etz School, 6184 Ash St., Van. En-
tertainment, dinner and dancing for
the whole family. For ticket info.
ph. Donalda 254-9836.

_APR. 4 — EARL ROBINSON at the

QE Playhouse.

MAY 16 & 17 — ODETTA at the
QE Playhouse. Single tickets for
each concert avail. at CBO, 501 W.
Georgia, Van., 687-2801.

COMMERCIAL

CONDOR’S PAINTING & build-
ing maintenance. Free estimate.
Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm
owned and operated by Chilean
Canadians. Reasonable rates.

GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS.
Complete printing services.
Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc.
Special rates for the progressive
movement. A union shop. 1595 W.
3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822.

ROOF REPAIRS — New roofs.
Reasonable. or 277-3352.

ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appli-
ance. repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287.

LEGAL SERVICES

RANKIN, McMURRAY &
BOND, Barristers and Solicitors.
157 Alexander St., 2nd Floor, Van-
couver. 682-3621.

DIRECTORY

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CAN-
ADA offices located at 102-2747 E.
Hastings St. Ph. 254-9836. For in-
formation on political issues or as-
sistance in political activity.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME —
Available for rentals. For reserva-
tions phone 254-3430.

WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL —
Available for banquets, meetings,
etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or
685-5836.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL-
TURAL CENTRE 805 East
Pender St., Vancouver. Available
for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Ph. 254-3436.

Thank you fo all
for your
kind concern
on the passing
of our Rita.

It is not only my grief
but grief for a
comrade who was
irreplaceable, ever
friendly and devoted
to the cause of
socialism.

John Tanche

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEB. 5, 1982—Page 7