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10, ENTERTAINMENT, THE HERALD, Wed. Aug. 11, 1976

Leading lady asks leading questions ;

By David Thomson

- Despite the valiant efforts
of a small number of tireless
individuals, Terrace
remains basically detached
from the larger cultural
centres of the world. So
when it was announced that

' ‘Svetlana Smith, the much

accredited director and
theatrical instructor from
‘Vancouver, was coming up}
to Terrace funded by the
Summer School of the Arts
to head a week-long series of,
workshops on acting and

. directing, I felt it was too

rare an opportunity to pass
up. I scraped together what
little funds I could. manage
and applied immediately.

The course, as I was led to
understand, was. aimed
‘more at those who had had

some previous experience of ©

some kind in theatre. I had
taken partin a few amateur!

productions (even coming.

away with. an award for

“Most Promising Actor’’ in

one — the standing joke of.

_ the family is that I was the

‘te

.. one who promised the ad-

judicator the most), so I felt

. ‘qualified to be included in.
whatever star-studded’
- group might show up for the’

lessons. Indeed, those that
_did turn out were for the
most part veterans of many
productions put on by the
Terrace Little . Theatre
group.. Others were only

beginning. I found myself:

classed somewhere in
between, somewhat. closer
to ‘‘just beginning”’ status.
But we were all, perhaps, a
wee bit skeptical of getting
our $35 worth, out of a one
week crash course in
dramatics. 7

asked,

_ Svetlana herself did not

appear very imposing as a
director at first glance
either. She was a small
short-haired blonde (fond of
flowers, stockings and Holly
Hobbie-ish dresses) with a
cute face and a.nose that
wrinkled delightfully when
she smiled. We sat ina
casual group on the dimly lit
stage of the deserted
“Remlee Theatre’ and
began to wonder whether we
could really learn anything
we didn’t already know.
After all, is the prize for
“Most Promising Actor’ a
thing to be scoffed at
lightly? Then she began ....

Svetlana ‘started by
dividing us into two groups.
While one group sat and
stared intently, the rest of us

‘were told to face them in a

line and stand normally. We
stood, looking like suspects
of a crime lined up at the
local police station, trying
our damndest to look non-
chalant. I concentrated on
trying to recall what
standing normally was like,
finally ending up in a
relaxed pose that let

“everyone see at a glance the
extreme unease I felt.

“Alright’’, said Svetlana
coolly, ‘‘you’re waiting for a

bus.” Immediately. I felt

better. Here was something
I could work with. I stood
‘tapping my toes-and looking
at a imaginary watch with
feigned impatience.

“Now then,’ Svetlana
“what is the dif-
ference there? Why did you
feel better - the second
time?”’ -

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“Obviously,’’ we replied,
“an actor is only at ease
when he has something to
concentrate on, whether
imaginary or real, some
reason to keep his eyes off

. the audience. He must have

a purpose.”

I suppose that this was
Svetlana’s secret, this

‘method of teaching; ‘though

it’s no secret if you look. Too
many have the set idea that
teaching consists of saying
merely, “Do this. Why?
Because I said _ to.”
Svetlana, on the other hand,
really taught us nothing.
Instead, she put us in

' situations and asked us the

right questions that let us
discover all the answers for
ourselves, along with all the
reasons. The lady's skill and
the reason she is where she
is quickly became apparent.

The second night brought
the first signs of a problem
that was to plague Svetlana
and the group for the rest of
the week. Every night saw
the disappearance of
another one or two faces
from the crowd of the
previous session, either
through iliness, travel, loss

- of interest, or whatever. The

end of the. week found. just
over half those people who
had ‘begun the course
remaining, along with a
number of others who had
joined in the meantime.
Plans. made each night had

to be altered or scrapped the -

next day. Often, too,

members (occasionally
yours truly) would arrive
late for a particular session
and add to. the confusion. All

this, made worse by the’

limited amount of time she
had to work with, often
frustrated terribly our poor
director -who, as .a
professional teacher, was

unused to such treatment.:

But one had only to beg
humble forgiveness for
being late, promise to ‘be
good in the future, present

her with a small daisy—
picked from the roadside.

and she could not help but
break into a smile and
everything would be rosy
again.

The latter half of: the
sessions, beginning with the

nightly coffee break, would.

often and sometimes
unintentionally lapse into
informal conversation, with
the rare rip-snorter of an
argument, covering various
and sundry topics;
everything from the latest
movie or play to the basic
philosophies and reasons for
drama (and no, we didn’t
come up with a reason). The
sessions could last as late as
‘nearly midnight before
people would notice the time
and pack it in.

Svetlana never once gave
specific directions or made
particular changes. She
merely made suggestions
and let us find the best way
of doing. something. We

could often find several -
completely different ways of

performing the same scene.

“For example,” she told -
us in our conversation, “I .

could tell David that he is.
too quiet when performing a

“scene, but that would help.

no one.’

“Am 1?” I asked ner-—
vously. =”

“Are you what?” she
replied.

“Am I too quiet?”

“I never. said that. I was
merely using the statement
as an example to illustrate a
given situation.”

“Oh, I see.”

Svetiana became rather
tired of reminding me. to
lower my voice when
reciting lines throughout the
rest of the course. The.
danger of what she said

‘became self-evident. .

Too much happened in
that one short week to at-
tempt to describe in this
small space. We learned
much that cannot be
described by words at all.
Those in the group that have
spent much of their lives to
theatre and others, like
myself, who see now that
there is a long road ahead
(awards or not) can now
continue with greater un- .
derstanding of what we do
and, more importantly, a
greater desire to learn more|.
about what we don’t un-
derstand. Not bad at all for
$35 and a couple of daisies.
Thank you, Svetlana and
good luck always.

CBC National looks at Vietnam today.

This week a CBC-TV
National News team entered
Hanoi to begin filming
‘reports on Vietnam. The
team — Far Eastern

__correspondent, Colin Hoath,

producer Don Dixon and
cameraman Ian Wilson — is
the first English-language
TV crew to be admitted to
Vietnam since the end of the
war.

“We've been working to

. get this assignment for

more than a year,’ says

Trina McQueen, producer of.

The National. ‘‘We thought
we had it in June, when we
‘were invited for the first
legislative assembly. Two
days before we were due to
leave,
cancelled.. The new in-

—-635- 2287

PEL nT Re a AREER nid A Ns BART PUA NMR ANE IN A a a A OO cD a 8 OT a

the invitation was.

“vitation came just as sud-
denly -- only last week.

~ “We don’t know how much ,

we'll be allowed to film-we
were asked to submit story
proposals but no restrictions

occupy in the national
consciousness. And what’s
happened to the leader of

the ARVN. We hope also to ©

see the new Ho Chi Minh
City (formerly Saigon).”

were imposed on them. We .-

want to know what’s been
going on in Vietnam-north

and south-since April, 1975. .

We’d like to know the
government’s plans, both
domestic and interntional.
We want to hear from the
generals their story about
how ‘they won the war. And
we want to see what life is
like now for the ordinary
Vietnamese-the farmer, the
factory worker, the soldier.

‘We'd also like to know
what place memories of the

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war and of Ho Chi Minh .

”

bel toro . sminczet

P Lakelse Hotel - “4620 Lakelse

- ‘Terrace

Monday - Saturday 9: 30. p.n. to 2 a.m.
, Fri-Sat, $2.00 | ser | |

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