“eee

_ Lorenzaccio
* ee

tratford’s artistic
director, Jean
Gascon, cele-
brating the Fest-
ival’s 20th seae
son, has staged
John Lewin’s Eng-

a... ench play about an
ii: Ssination plot and a repub-
effort to overthrow the De

Medici + : :
1837. yranny in Florence in

as Program note draws a par-
between political violence

h “Nericg

‘ and i se
Vali tity 9 questions “the

nd above all the use-

and :
) e. Particular political assas-
; ot (Surely there is a dif-
ae between individual ter-
_ “Mand an armed uprising!)

% me pMusset's play is about
“aM de Medici who is a
€ in the corrupt court of
no Alessandro and plots
i ee The oppressed city
ang by arrogant Germans
thar Omans. People are arbi-
it Mo Y beaten, jailed or killed.
" Brevity and cynicism
| Lotens € government and church.
SOmupt. himself has become
che ied he persists in his
= but he is not so much
Sted in reform as in per-
ma ‘Vengeance against the
if lite despises and detests; he
im, € faith in rebellions.
any. Play debates the personal
Teeth Itical’ alternatives and
tells : them all. De Musset
Rnerate: at an autocratic state
*S public frustration, re-
| &nde oa reckless violence, en-
But We ® a worse autocracy.
tegn9 are also told that even
‘| tion sha ble, organized opposi-
jade, Mnot succeed, that its
Ss desert it at the cru-
Saale De Musset could
A tom (v° learned very much
TOVement Stirring democratic
tay, His i" the Europe of his
ate ti Play balances passion-
Dhical otests against _ philoso-
A Yang, boCulation and, despite
Hil). © and director’s skills,

. ALS,

awe
oy Sl

t fat its a wordy and too long,
"Satis, "cipal fault is its de-

The
Production is neverthe-

Dolish absorbing one, offering
Staging,

tien eS by Gabriel Char-
"Otdinans Gil Wechsler’s ex-

far new lighting sys-
Rts , °Signed the electrical

j tet ey all three shows).
-g heeive . some marvelously-
Hh few 3 Scenes and more than
R9 nk ti¢ moments, such as
f ating €n celebrants at the
| i Principles .2SSassination, the
f e =a and gutless politi-
tietCil of Tule Florence as the
d i Mask Eight and wear iden-
i el oy and especially the
M Ditches © as the spotlight
: Medigj ~O™ the inane new
Pea ly uuppet ruler and sud-
4) tae’ cargiuates the scarlet-
Power inal, the real politi-

ty

| ht he is 3 a consisten-
be W.s. Year Tr. Pat Galloway
layg the Duchess of Malfi)

| ASsas ale role of Lorenzo,
) Person: €xploring his com-
ees ality and portraying

Si youth of exceptional

fica
yp nse, pouty and grace, of
“Sag SS; almost-feminine

ae

Florence and in modern North:

®8s of revolutionary acts.

sensuousness, cynical contempt
for mankind, and an obsessive
need for Alessandro’s death —
all masked by the engaging
manner and easy charm of a
jaded playboy.

As the man he seeks to mur-
der, Kenneth Welsh exudes car-
nal grossness. Apart from his
reactionary rule as Duke of
Florence, his main concern is to
pursue the voluptuary life and
achieve the unsubtle and cruel
seduction of every woman he
fancies. One can well appreciate
Lorenzo’s disgust and fury.

Other notable performances
are by Powys Thomas as the in-
decisive republican leader who
deserts his cause; Roland Hew-
gill as the austere cardinal who
blackmails his adulterous sister-
in-law; Elizabeth Shepherd as
the unhappy countess manipu-
lated by the cardinal; and Mary
Savidge as Lorenzo’s _heart-
broken mother.

King Lear

Stratford’s new production of
Shakespeare’s monumental tra-
gedy (the other time was 1964)
is directed by David William
and he has given us a vital and
violent panorama of brutal con-
flict between unscrupulous self-
seekers and a handful of decent
men and women.

The production swirls in
pageantry, banners, costumes
and spectacle. Annena Stubbs
design is strong and earthy.
Louis Applebaum’s music and
sound envelop and excite US.
Rarely have we been attacked
by so furious a storm of light-
ning, thunder and gale as that
which sweeps across the British
moor and over the hapless Lear.
We are startled by the kings
explosive temper as he runs
amuk and overturns two heavy
banquet tables. We watch breath-
less as two brothers battle each
other to the death. We are
touched by the tragic ends of
Lear and Cordelia. We are hor-
rified by the gory blinding of
Gloucester, by the torture in-
struments, the cleaver sunk into

a tebe

a servant’s back, the blood-
stained bodies.

But more than spectacle,
sound and fury, the production
probes the depths of character,
particularly in the male roles,
and guides us along the parallel,
merging levels of the play—the
personal, family relationships
between a_ self-centred parent
and his three daughters on the
one hand and, on the other, the
political relationships between
a vain, roistering old monarch,
two of his daughters, their hus-
bands, and the ambitious son of
a courtier.

The king’s values have always
been false; at home as in the
world of politics. He rewards
flattery, encourages hypocrisy
and penalizes honesty. It takes
the bitter experience of total
personal tragedy finally to open
his eyes. There is a deep wisdom
in Shakespeare’s story, especial-
ly when we are. cautioned not to
accept events—as inevitable or
as ordained by the stars, but ra-
ther to take personal responsi-
bility for our actions, to make
moral choices and to embrace
the humanist spirit which in-
spires us with the courage to
bear adversity, fight injustice
and conquer defeat.

An important area in the
characterizations bothers me —

Lorenzaccio—Pat Galloway as
Lorenzo, Kenneth Welsh as Ales-

sandro, directed by Jean Gascon.
t

PU ETE TEE OA TS ETS I

4 Hutt as King Lear, directed by David lam.

Lear’s daughters. Pat Galloway
(Goneril), Carol Shelley (Regan)
and Elizabeth Shepherd (Cor-
delia) create characters of great
depth and color in the other
Festival openers but, in the key
roles of the sisters, it is well
into the play’s middle before
they register as strong and dis-
tinct personalities. Perhaps it is
because, when we first meet
them, their costumes, headgear
and hairdoes appear to be iden-
tical. After a while (too long a
while) we begin to distinguish
speech mannerisms and physical
differences, but these three
women seem to be playing it
cool, too intellectually, not as
vibrant flesh-and-blood crea-
tures but literary abstractions.

The men are much more
clearly defined: Mervyn Blake
as the honest, loyal Earl of
Kent; Powys Thomas as_ the
eyeless Gloucester; William
Needles as Goneril’s. dominated
husband; Roland Hewgill as
Regan’s sadistic mate; Kenneth
Welsh as Gloucester’s son Edgar,
feigning madness on the deso-
late moors; Daniel Davis as
Edgar’s evil brother and his own
father’s betrayer; Edward Atien-
za as the King’s Fool, a pathe-
tic, shrewd, frightened and im-
pudent conscience to the king;
and, as Lear, the masterful por-
trayal by William Hutt of the
title role—a selfish, mean, un.
reasonable, unjust, angry, tyran-
nical, cruel and bankrupt old
man who descends from throne
to flight to exile to destitution
to madness and to the recogni-
tion of his awful guilt and, fin-
ally, his awareness of his daugh-
ter Cordelia’s love and the self-
less loyalty of the friends he
had scorned or wronged.

As You Like It

The Festival’s most joyous
offering must surely be Shake-
speare’s bitter-sweet comedy of
human love and ‘mankind’s
search for the happy society. It
is 13 years since the play was
last staged here. Now, under
the inspired direction of Wil-
liam Hutt, we enjoy ..it again as

sonoaith Ye Louie SIRACIFIGTRIBUNE-ERIQAY, JUNE 23.,1972—PAGE 9

£¢ SUUL YAGIAE--SHUGAT DID AS

8 RDAT=ENI!

a thing of ardent poetry, haunt-
ing loveliness, entrancing magic,
delightful humor and clarity of

' vision.

Designed by Alan Barlow, it

' js visually warm and sensitive,

like a pastoral painting. Harry
Freedman’s music — solo songs,
choruses and orchestra—give it
the melodious sound of an opera.
It has the look and the move-
ment of a ballet. One remembers
the wrestling match and Duke
Frederick’s entourage, but espe-
cially the scenes in the Forest
of Arden — the exiles eating,
their camaraderie and _ their
songs, the joint celebration of
four. weddings and the happy
closing scene.

The play’s various’ meanings
are revealed to us—its concern
with human dignity and human
decency, the romantic concept
of love and the more direct
approach, the right of a woman
to decide for herself as a person
and not an object, the false so-
cial relationships of the com-
mercial city as opposed to rus-
tic simplicity and, finally, the
realization that the Forest of
Arden was really an attempt to
escape reality.

The acting company is in its
element here. Their voices are
a joy to hear; their portrayals
are a delight. Carol Shelley as
Rosalind impersonating a young

_ man is alive with humor and

affection, flair and elan, and she
-is magnificent. Nicholas Pennell
is the love-lorn youth, Orlando,
and the scene where he feeds
his sick old friend (Eric Donkin)
is full of tenderness. Pamela

Brook is  Rosalind’s devoted
cousin; Edward Atienza is the
-wildly-funny court jester who
accompanies the girls in their
fiight from the city;. Michael
Liscinsky is the muscle-conscious
wrestler; Mary Barton is chate-

laine to the usurper duke; Mer- .

vyn Blake, the duke’s banished
brother, is the respected mentor
of the exiles; Don Sutherland is
the eloquent musical expression
of the Arden denizens; Blaine

Parker, a young shepherd, is in

love with a shepherdess (Krysia
Read); Elizabeth Shepherd is
the luscious, bouncy goat-girl
courted by Touchstone; and
Roland Hewgill is the pessimis-
tic social critic, more sad than
cynical.

The Twentieth Season

After two decades the Fest-
ival’s activities span 10 months
at home and on tour with, it is
hoped for next year, a tour of
Europe, including the Soviet
Union. New actors and back-
stage craftsmen have joined the
company and staff. This year, in
the Festival Theatre, the Avon
and the Third Stage, 10 produc-
tions have been mounted. There
will be musical stage works,
concerts, a film festival and
special events.

Fringe attractions are the
brightly-colored paintings and
sculpture by Karel Appel at the
Rothmans Art Gallery on Romeo
Street and the Perth County
Conspiracy’s after-hours music
at the Black Swan on Market
Street.

—Martin Stone

PHOTOS: ROBERT C. RAGSDALE LTD.,
TORONTO