Rita. a atin

Lh

TWO NEW PLAYS
FOR FALL SEASON

IFE is absurd, reality is only
what the mind creates, no-
body really knows the

truth, everybody is: blind and
confused, all points of view are
both false and true, and fantasy
pursues fact like a cat playing
with a mouse.

That is the thinking of Luigi
Pirandello, whose play, Right
You Are (If You Think You Are)
entertained Toronto audiences
at the Royal Alexandra Theatre
recently.

Pirandello during his lifetime
was known variously as an anti-
social playwright, an anarchist,
a political liberal and a sup-
porter of Mussolini’s fascism.

Yet out of the nihilist mul-
ligan stew we can extract some
positive values. Right You Are
directs keen satirical lances at
society chatterers, gossip mong-
ers and moral hypocrites.

The story involves a man and
his mother-in-law. Each des-
cribes the other as mad. Is
either right? Are they both
right? Each suffers deep unhap-
piness as the result of public in-

terference in his private life. Is
the public right? Are the vic-
tims lying?

This: production of the New
York APA Repertory Company,
directed by Stephen Porter, is
on the whole a sound, work-
manlike job that involves its
audience in an exercise in truth-
seeking, even though it is only
an- exercise, a game rather than
an emotional involvement.

What bothers me about the
generally handsome and con-
scientious staging is its over-
earnestness to play Pirandello
smartly, its artfulness, its air of
self-consciousness. :

Outstanding in its cast are
Helen Hayes (the mother-in-law)
and Sydney Walker (her son-in-
law). Between the characters
these two portray there is a real
relationship—mutual respect, af-
fection, dignity, love, fear. Their
performances, and that of Don-
ald Moffat as the playwright’s
spokesman, are the highlights of
the show.

Social criticism from a dif-
ferent period is provided by

All the numerous tasks assigned
to him by the Party Leslie

The Leslie Morris Club of the
Communist Party of Canada

Oct. 10, 1904
Nov. 13, 1964

+

Morris fulfilled with dignity
and honor as a true revo-
lutionary and loyal son
of the people.

POINT OF VIEW

William Congreve’s Restoration
comedy, Love for Love, a bril-
liant, gay and incisive ridiculing
of England’s propertied men,
parasites, smart ladies, dandies,
lawyers, bailiffs and the like.

Congreve, who lived between
1670 and 1729, has stocked a gal-
lery with clever and entertain-
ing sketches of English upper-
class manners and morality.

The production at the O’Keefe

Centre, by the National Theatre
of Great Britain (headed by Sir
Lawrence Olivier) is directed by
Peter Wood, designed by Lila
de Nobili, with music by Marc
Wilkinson and dances by Alfred
Rodrigues.
’ Style, wit, panache, magnifi-
cent speech, graceful physical
movement, dash, consciousness
—all the ingredients of the best
of English theatre are there —
the skills and the spirit, in the
single performances and in the
ensemble.

John Stride as Valentine, es-
pecially in his pretended mad-
ness; Laurence Olivier as the
dandy and Petronella Barker as
the country lass in their: seduc-
tion scene; Edward Hardwicke
as the bluff sailor; Anthony
Nicholls as an old: mah court-
ing; Geraldine McEwan, Gab-
rielle Laye and Joyce Redman
as the romantic ladies; Robert
Lang as Scandal and Graham
Crowden as_ Foresight — these
are only a- handful of many who
make the play memorable.

Memorable also are the deep-
toned, richly-textured settings,
like old English prints magnified
larger than life; the charming
group of musicians on stage;
and the graceful finale.

The considerable distance be-
tween most of the audience and
the O’Keefe stage undoubtedly
accounts for some of the strain
on both sides of the footlights.
It must be an ordeal even for
an acting company like Olivier’s
to be light and gay and subtle
and witty and to project these
qualities to the far reaches
without screaming or making
faces. They more than manage
it. —Martin Stone

EAPO AMD |

The recent Expo 67 was a
bright demonstration of the crea-
tive forms of Man.

All Candians are proud of it
—whether as active participants
or just listening to the glowing
accounts of those who attended.

The period of Expo 67 from its
beginning in the minds of men,
up to this time, has almost paral-
leled the U.S. war on the Viet-
namese.

Expo has ended with extensive
ceremonies, great fanfare and
the presence of many influential
people who are proud to have
been associated with it. How-
ever, to the great shame of “Man
and His World” the slaughter in
Vietnam goes on.

The great society of North
America is a great evil to mil-
lions of people in Asia and
throughout the world.

Expo’s Habitant village with its
built-in gardens, is a thing to

err eee se

stir the imagination of all. Apart-

“ments, housing hundreds of fam-
ilies in luxury are now one of
the achievements of our advanc-
ed society. Young men from
these same mansions of living
are told to, and do, put the torch
to hundreds of one-storey thatch-
ed homes in the name of free-
dom. Is this right?

Office buildings of 30, 40 and
50 storeys are commonplace. The
recruited and volunteer inhabi-
tants of these palaces of business
force hundreds to live in under-
ground tunnels to escape their
“civilizing” influence, and if they
find an entrance to one of these
temporary refuges they throw a
grenade in the hole. By what
right?

Expo’s mono-rail transported
50,000,000 or more passengers
with speed and efficiency that
was the joy and pride of those
taking part. While our U.S. visit-

November 17, 1967—PAGIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 10

Da!

3

ors sped around the grounds to
see the wonders of Man and His
World, their sons were bombing
the Ho Chi Minh trail, where
people with bundles on their
back, on their bicycles, and even,
we understand, by elephant
transport were seeking to escape
the fire and bombs of flying tig-
ers.

Expo 67 welcomed all children,
special days were held, schools
were closed, every effort was
made to bring them to see all
the wonders of Expo. While this
has been going on, U.S. fragmen-
tation bombs—one small bomb
containing hundreds of tiny pel-
lets—were maiming and killing
the children of Vietnam. Is this
the best the U.S. can do?

Expo’s Hovercraft furnished a
new and novel means of trans-
portation to thrill many of our
visitors. TV and the newest in
illusory movies added depth to

By BERT WHYTE
Tribune Staff Correspondent

MOSCOW
THAT the Soviet people are
really celebrating this
month, is the first govern-
ment of the people, by the peo-
ple and for the people that this

world has ever known.

From bast shoes to sputniks,
from “prison house of nations”
to national equality, from illit-
eracy to universal culture, from
poverty to security and high liv-
ing standards—these are some
of the fruits of 50 years of pro-
gress ushered in by the Great
October Revolution.

All these changes have been
wrought by the common man.

Socialism proved that revolu-
tionary humanism could create
a new type of man and trans-
form his spiritual makeup by
giving him real freedom and the
opportunity to develop socially
and politically.

“Fifty years of Soviet power

WEAN

thought. Shown also were the
computers which are making
possible a glorious and almost
toil-free future for the men and
women of the 2Ist century. All
who saw marvelled and were
proud of man’s achievement.

We also command immense
ships, great aircraft, monstrous
tanks and trucks. The magic of
radar is at our disposal. Guided
missiles, big bombs are doing the
bidding of man in Vietnam. Per-
haps we should not be so proud?

Many U.S. cities have had se-
rious riots during the past three
years by black people who have
been, and still are, living in pov-
erty-stricken, rat-infested ghet-
tos. Is this what qualifies U.S.
soldiers to engage in, building
“pacification” compounds in
Vietnam?

Flower-people, hippies, call
them what you will, in their sen-
sitivity feel the blight of culture

|
irrefutably proved er) j
ing people can m of
of society withou of
and better
Nikolai Podgorny 2
the Presidium Of gf
Soviet, told a gree it pi
ing in the Krem |
Congresses. id?
heonid Brezhnev Pf A
cesses of the fics
the country’s FT mot
prologue to a st
cent future, b0 y obey
and the peoples — ..#
tries. “Commun! id.

tomorrow,” he es?
Newspapers * 5 get
filled with storie’ ig Uy
amic  scientl “ soviet ‘
achievements. eave i
storming the h
man is changiné
earth. og the
In celebrating t pow
Sov!

the nobility of

ty
je i
that afflicts our wt a)
ciety; they als? 1 peciliyiy
sincerity that ne ;
of our way of a that od
as an older Perr cy f
ture of our W® est 4 9
hands and that th ot
will join with ‘ ine af
and daughters |, Dy!
class to make © ogh od
one which will yor
from the highe! ~ ine is
society and swe Fe al
of bigotry, violet ston) me!
the ashcan OF "iy 10 y
peace and secu id
ples of the wh? ff
forever. 7H 1050”
Expo 6 ia
people of good onal ee
farmers, profes ide vy
members of thé | to i!
everywhere uni cet
murder of the ”
nam, wo 4