Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1991)
i ©1991 pws My < iw/iy SEE ^ SUIT Mogonyn dison II h u' ill 5 10 peof Clark A naval s‘ no begi lore tni id stes*' 10 drift y deft amparf Preside ir plant ■s strof lers at :ts shot io, ne es, adjj r *I' t I Lifestyles lursday, June 27,1991 The Battalion Pages Aggie Players twist, turn through ’Deathtrap' SONDRA N. ROBBINSThe Battalion Christina Vela-O'Connor grips Julie Oliver’s hand in "Deathtrap," the Aggie Players' presentation for MSC Summer Dinner Theater. Vela-O'Connor plays a psychic who is seeing a glimpse of the future in this scene. By Timm Doolen Strong performances and an incredible script make the Aggie Players' "Deathtrap" a play not to be missed this weekend at MSC Summer Dinner Theater. The play, which premiered last weekend, is a complex, suspenserul play filled with so many twists and turns that it is often difficult to tell what is really going on. The story: The career of middle-aged play wright Sidney Bruhl (Clay Loveless) is going downhill when he casually tells his wife that he is going to kill a theater student and steal his recently written play, which is named "Death trap." At first, the wife Myra (Julie Oliver) doesn't take him seriously, but all the circumstances are perfect. When the young playwright Clifford Anderson (Steven De Korne) visits the Bruhls to go over the finer points of improving "Death trap," nobody sees him going to the house and no other copies of the play exist. Myra desperately pleads with Clifford not to give into the temptation of killing just to have a good play, even pointing out that her weak heart could not take the shock. Myra also men tions that a Dutch psychic, Helga tenDorp (Chris tina Vela-O'Connor), has just moved into the neighborhood, and that she would surely know if there was a murder in the house. And this is just in the first 30 minutes of the play. The rest of the play is filled with so many plot twists that to give any of them away would ruin the experience for those who have not seen it. Director Robert Wenck's version of "Death- The play is filled with so many plot twists that to give any of them away would ruin the experience for those who have not seen it. trap" is a bit different than other's I've seen, being much more comical. And it worked. The play, while deadly serious in concept, comes off as a riotously funny situation comedy, due in large part to the eccentric portrayal of most of the characters. Oddly enough, its strong point (the com edy) was also a slight flaw, because I found myself laughing even during the murder scenes. And although that was probably the intended effect, I thought a little more suspense around those scenes might have made the show a little bit better. As far as the acting is concerned. Loveless performed wonderfully in the lead part of Sidney, naving a sense of timing which is much needed in this comical thriller. I was not quite as impressed with the perfor mance of De Kome as Clifford who delivered many lines too fast and even missed some in the second act. Also, while the character is a homosexual and the play was done comically (almost farcically), I think he overplayed the homosexual aspect of his character. But Vela-O'Connor and John Mabry in the roles of the psychic and the legal consultant, respectively, stole the show during their brief scenes, with eccentric caricatures that fit the mood of the overall play. On the other hand, Oliver as Myra played the part a little too seriously in comparison with the eccentricity of the other parts. In all honesty, the strength of the won derful script by Ira Levin could probably carry the play even if it were a below-par production. But the performances, direction and production are all quite good, and will provide a good evening's entertainment. The dinner begins at 6:30 tonight, Friday and Saturday, with the play beginning at 8. Tickets for the dinner and theater are $17.50, and $5 for just the play. For more informa tion, call the box office at 845-1234. 'Caught in the Villain’s Web' StageCenter presents summer melodrama By Julia E.S. Spencer StageCenter's summer melodrama has been a Bryan- College Station tradition as far back as I can remember. As a kid, I don't know which I liked best: singing tum-of-the-cen- tury popular songs, booing and throwing popcorn at the vil lain, or waiting for the dastardly fellow to shoot the piano player after the curtain call. At Saturday's performance of "Caught in the Villain's Web," however, there was no doubt as to the kids' - and adults'- favor ite pastime. Showering the bad guys with popcorn was the ab solute, hands-down winner. The cast seemed to enjoy every minute of the buttered-and- salted deluge, and gleefully re ciprocated, much to the delight of the audience. (Beware the front row!) The old-fashioned sing- along on the other hand, was reduced to a few songs before the show, which didn't give the audience as much time to warm up as the longer between-act sets used to. The olios, or inci dental entertainment, werealso missing, but the length of the play itself, and the recent death of StageCenter founder and popularolio performer Wendell Landmann may have been partly responsible for their omission. As for the melodrama it self, "Web" had all the requisite characters and more, each ac companied by the appropriate iano music: a beautiful, naive eroine (Suzanne Shaw), a jut- jawed, lovelorn hero (Joel Mitchell), a ruthless, grasping villain (Heath Allyn), an un willing accomplice (Tim Newkirk), a woman of ques tionable virtue (Stacey Noessel), some meddling mothers (Joan Pitman and Phyllis Bess), a friendly doctor (Harold Presley), an annoying younger sibling (Anita Vantreese), and a seductive French maid (Annie Menzel). The plot of this turbulent saga of good vs. evil thickens in the house of Mrs. Regina Larkfield, who is feigning sick ness so that her horticulture- minded son Malvern will fol low her wishes and marry ma nipulative Nella Hargrave. Be fore that can happen, he falls madly in love with Felicity Fair, the amnesia-stricken nurse sent to care for his mother. Meanwhile, Cyril Bothingwell, a maliciously reedy former attorney, has esigns on the Larkfield estate, and uses Brockton the butler's chequered past to force him into service (boo, hiss). He also takes advantage of Felicity's amnesia to falsely claim her as his long- lost wife (boo, hiss!). Only a playwright could get someone out of a mess like this, so it's a ood thing that Herbert E. wayne, whose play this is, was up to the task. The entertaining it improbable end result twists and turns, always staying a few steps ahead of the audience. The afcting Saturday was rather uneven, due to the dif ferences in age, experience, tal ent and acting style. Actors who began rather woodenly, how ever, seemed to warm to the material and the audience's co pious laughter, and loosened up considerably as they went along. The stiffness of some line readings didn't seriously detract from my enjoyment of the truly funny dialogue, but merely failed to add anything to it. First-time director Julie Haight extracted especially good performances from Shaw, as the naive Felicity, Allyn as the dexterous villain Bothingwell, Vantreese as whiny Lona Larkfield, Menzel as the tempting and impecca bly French-accented Denise, and of course inimitable KTAM disc jockey Presley as affable, wife-wary Dr. Hugo Belch. Haight also made good use of the simple 1890s drawing room set, and touched on all the essential "mellerdramer" cli ches that avid fans look for. Will someone rescue Felicity before it's too late, and the audience runs out of air-popped missiles? Only time - and next week's Thursday through Saturday performances at 8 p.m.- will tell... Texas Music Festival Symphonic Brass Quartet continues classical series A3LM professor plays medieval knight RICHARD S. JAMES/The Battalion Dr. Doug Biggs coaxes a Sargassum dragon fish out of its hiding place of a Sargassum seaweed plant inits aquarium at Pet Paradise. By Margaret Coltman The Symphonic Brass Quintet and members of the University of Houston School of Music faculty with pianist Timothy Hester pre sented an exciting and well-varied program as part of the Texas Mu sic Festival in Rudder Theatre Monday night. Opening the program was Francis Poulenc's (1899-1963) 'Trio for Oboe, Piano and Bassoon." Composed in 1926, it is considered his first important chamber work and contains much of the French grace which typifies his later com positions. The opening chords in the pi ano were a bit bangy, but Timothy Hester instantly backed away as oboeist Robin Hough and bassoon ist Marilyn Chappell entered, and I realized his introduction was in tentional. Hough consistently overpowered the others, and was harsh at times, yet his tone on pi ano was beautiful. Chappell had difficulty pro- « which was more the hall's an her own, but when she could be heard it was beautifully played. Hester was joined by his fa ther, Byron Hester, on flute and Jeffrey Lemeron clarinet for Ernest Bloch's(1880-1059) "Concertino for Flute, Clarinet and Piano." The woodwinds faced the audience rather than each other, and I lost the feeling of communication be tween players. The winds' stands were low ered to keep from visually inter fering with the audience, but the result was more distracting: the performers had to bend over the music, which meant the visual communication one expects from chamber music appeared lacking. Notes in the upper register of the flute cracked and notes in the low register of the clarinet were raw, and the phrases were not al lowed natural endings. Afewuni- son passages could have used a little more attention. Despite these problems, the performance was enjoyable, al though it did not deliver the emo tional impact this piece and. I'm sure, these performers, are capable. The Symphonic Brass Quintet was the highlight of the evening, presenting works by Alexander Arutunian (b.1920) and Victor Ewald (1860-1935). Both of these Soviet composers drew on folksongs for inspiration. Arutunian's "Armenian Scenes for Brass Quintet" consisted of four short pieces. The first, "Morning Song," was a gentle pre lude, with voices entering one by one to create a rich blanket of sound. The performers were sen sitive to one another and to the music. The "Drinking Song" was com plete with slides from the trom bone and bawdy crescendos, but they were approached a little ten tatively for the nature of the song. The opening chord of the "Song of Grief' was faulty, but the group quickly recovered for the next chord. The open tonalities and stark quality were similar to Shostakovitch's barren "String Quartet #8." The final piece of the set, "Wed ding Procession," began with muted trumpets alternating back and forth followed by rapid scale passages in each instrument. A passage borrowed from bandstand era brass let the audience forgive the dissonances and applaud with a smile. The concert concluded with a well-known piece — a common ploy when including unusual works on a program. Ewald's "Brass Quintet No. 3" was easily accessible. The performance was carefully planned if cliched, and even a few blundered passages could not detract from the simple beauty of the piece. The Andante gave the group a chance to show off individual tal ents with lush solos over a meshed background. The overall sensitiv ity of the performers was most impressive - so often, balance is distorted by an overeager tuba, but this was not the case. The trum pets exhibited seamless transfers of long held notes, and the phrases were delicately handled, making the Symphonic Brass Quintet a delight to hear. By Holly Becka Dragons and their ilk are more often associated with knights of medieval legends, certainly not 20th century College Station and Texas A&M's Department of Oceanography. But Dr. Doug Biggs, an associ ate professor of oceanography, caught a dragon last week and kept it alive, unlike his knightly coun terparts who slayed their dragons. In fact, Biggs' dragon was captured in a net and is on display in a saltwater tank at Pet Paradise in College Station. While doing research in the Gulf of Mexico, Biggs caught a Sar gassum dragon fish hiding under floating seaweed, from which the animal gets its name. The fish, in the genus Histrio, is not rare. But Biggs' haul is one of the largest scientists have seen, coming in at a mere four inches. When onlookers first approach the tank, they probably won't see the fish because seaweed conceals the fish in its tangled, yellow hues. "The fish is the same color as the seaweed and its body is almost seaweed shaped with the projec tions on it," Biggs says. Tt wiggles the weed-like projections, which serveas fishing lures to attractprey. This fish is a great example of evo lutionary adaptation and an ani mal matching its surroundings." Another interesting modifica tion to the dragon fish is its fins, which look roughly like arms and legs. The fish uses these to hold on to seaweed, thereby remaining motionless so it doesn't scare away its food. This denizen of the deep gulps in large volumes of water to eat its prey. The dragon fish doesn't swim in schools, but instead finds solo contentment in its drifting, Sargas sum seaweed. Sargassum is the Portuguese word for grapes; the seaweed has round, "grape-like" gas-filled floats which help it progress along the water's surface. Biggs and the researchers on the Gyre, a vessel operated by A&M and based in Galveston, were not looking for oceanic life they were obtaining water samples for geochemical research. But Biggs will tell you that doing research at sea always brings unexpected dis coveries. "It is uncommon to find crea tures of the open ocea n on the Texa s continental shelf," he says. While the dragon fish usually is found hundreds of miles into the ocean's expanses, researchers found this nsh only 60 miles off shore because tidal currents had brought deep oceanic life to the more shallow, coastal waters. The menacing-looking fish will be displayed at tne Brazos Valley Museum when thebuilding's new wing is completed. "People can learn a lot about ecology from this," Biggs says. "It's the perfect camouflage fish. This is not a hard science thing, it's fun."