3

Y alae ee



Wednesday, October 15, 1958

THE

COLLEGE

NEWS

Page Three



Pem East Frosh Take Plaque with Yeats Production;
Others Evoke Sobs, Hilarity,

Rockefeller Freshmen Hall Players
Manage To Face Coward Unafraid

by Ellie Winsor |

“Englishmen have been accused |
of taking their pleasures sadly,”
suggests Noel Coward asa preface
to his sketch “Fete Gallant,” and

he illustrates the premise with a}

medley of characters and incidents
from a vicarage garden party.
The sketch is a mere fragment, a
combination of witty common-
places tangental to the theme, and
there is no dramatic continuity or
order except for the surprise of
clever phrasing.

A wealth of colorful Edwardian
feminine costumes achieved the
atmosphere which is in itself a
witty type setting—and the group-
ing of ladies, maidens (to be dis-
tinguished by whiteness of ap-
parel) and choir boys, multiplied
the impression into one of flocks
of fluttering ladies. The blocking,
however, was to be seconded by
choral speaking which moves the
skit along on the pure impetus of
its humor, but unfortunately the
blending of shrieks and shrills did
not achieve enough precision for
the subject or substance of the
dialogue to disintangle itself from
the harmony. Choral speaking is
one of the most difficult feats for
a director to accomplish, and
choral speaking with humor al-
most impossible within so limited
a rehearsal time—as knowledge of
the lines is only secondary here.

The choir boys, Phyllis Andler,
Judy Jacobs, Rosie Conn, were
better by virtue of their being
only four, and by having had an
opportunity to introduce them-
selves by roguish actions before



they came to the front of the

stage.

The solo parts, on the other
hand were able to take full advan-
tage of their lines, and carry
themselves by virtue of the humor
already in the dialogue and be

Continued on Page 4, Col. 2

Non-Res Students
Enact ‘Roommates’

by Barbara Broome —

Roommates, an adaptation of
the play Sorority Sisters present-
ed by the non-resident students,
proved to be one of: the bright
spots of Friday evening. The
dormitory scene came complete
with a bridge player looking for
a fourth and much of the success
of the play was due to the fact
that the members of the audience
could see themselves and _ their
friends portrayed on the stage.

Nancy Rhea, as the new room-
mate with PROBLEMS, gave an
excellent performance, and Mar-
lene Bronstein, Sandy * Goldberg,
Norma Cohen and Joan D’Arcy as
her very much concerned friends
did admirable jobs. Sue Adams
handled well the only real char-
acter part in the play, that of
Mrs. Reinhart, the well meaning
but rather dizzy house mother.

All the characters were convinc-
ing and realistic. They treated
their roles not only with a sense
of the comic but also with the
necessary understanding and sym-
pathy. Good acting, good direct-
ing (on the part of Sandy Gold-
berg) and good humor: made the
play a fun experience!



*"COKE'? I$ A REGISTERED TRADE-MARK, COPYRIGHT © 1958 THE COCA-COLA COMPANY,





about why Coke is the world’s

. +. Such taste, such sparkle! Yes, my
favorite case is always a case of Coke!



my dear Watson! From the happy look
on your physiog, from the cheerful lift
you seem to be enjoying, I deduce

you are imbibing Coca-Cola. No mystery

favorite”

SIGN OF GOOD TASTE



laine

Bottled under authority of The Coca-Cola Company by ~~

4

THE PHILADELPHIA COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY



‘seem’ synthetic:-—-~— a te

Bear, Rabbits Star
In Rhoads’ Drama

by E. Anne Eberle

The more it shows, tiddley-pom,
it comes from Rhoads, tiddley-pom
—oh bother. That won’t do at all

éonsidering we have that eleven-|

o-clockish feeling and would like
to get on to Rabbit’s House for a
little something, but we did want
to say something about how ter-
ribly Christopher Robbinish Lou-
ise Sobler was on Friday night in
Rhoads’ delightful presentation of
Winnie the Pooh.

Pooh himself would probably
say that A. A. Milne had already
provided some wonderful dialogue
with which to go on Expo-what-
ever-it-wases, and all Rabbit’s
Friends and Relations would have
agreed out of sheer force of habit.
And Owl, Bonnie Kevles, complete
in academic cap and gown, would
have said something much _ too
lengthy to print, except perhaps
that he for one had at least tried
to maintaian some dignity in the
affair, which Roo and Kanga, com-
plete with clothespin bag, defin-
itely had not.

Piglet was quite as pink and as
meek as ever; possibly overcome
by the brave musical offering of
Barbara Weinstein as Pooh, which
opened the performance. Eyore
(Louise Weingarten), we must ad-
mit, was a bit smirkier than us-
ual, but it must be quite difficult
to get one’s tail thanklessly-numb-
ed in a gallant life-saving attempt
without a bit of a smirk here and
there.

It is difficult for any of us Pooh-
type Bears with Very Little Brain
to imagine Christopher Robin &
Co. as anything other than the en-
trancing sketches created by A. A.
Milne, but the Rhoads production
is to be commended for its wise
adherence to simplicity in allowing
dreamy viewers to be transported
back to their youth last year, or
maybe last week, when they most
recently read the Pooh classics.
Ho-hum—bother—no one home at
Rabbit’s—wonder if: his honey
i] eee

Denbigh’s “Farce”
Fulfills Own Title

by Lois Potter

Denbigh’s play, Let There Be
Farce, deserves bouquets all
around: for (Stephanie Condon,
stage manager, whose simple and
clever sets established an atmos-
phere and captured audience at-
tention as soon as the curtain went
up; for Katherine Yablonsky, di-
rector, and Mimi Gisolfi, advisor,
who were responsible for a remark-
ably: unified production and whose
skillful blocking kept the play
from getting tangled up in its own
clothesline; above all, for the act-
ors, whose unquenchable vitality
carried them even through mo-
ments where every other line came
from the prompter.

Among the actors, Frankie
Guthrie as Gertrude showed an

outstanding gift for comedy, not

merely in speaking her lines, but
in a constantly changing facial ex-
pression and sense of timing
which made even the draping of a
stocking over the clothesline seem
eloquent with meaning. Helped by
a well-padded cosume, Gail Shin-
dell played the old hag Luella with
shrewdness and vulgarity. Dayle
Benson whined and wheedled ap-
pealingly as the thief, and the fight
between Gertrude and him did not

The other characters, Mrs. An-



Continued on Page 4, Col. 4

uspense and Passion

Pembroke West
Enjoys Enacting

6 hd 7
Hyperbolic Farce
by Eleanor Winsor

The Pembroke West Freshmen
‘enjoyed theirplay;~ this was un-
mistakably obvious, and this kind
of humour from within can ac-
complish much by itself even over
and above the play chosen. “The
Dear Departed” is a farce and a
hyperbole, and was approached
and acted in just that spirit, espe-
cially by Nina Southerland and
Abbey Trafford, the principal char-
acters.

While grandfather, the dear de-
parted, lies stiff and cold upstairs
his daughter Amelia and her hus-
band Henry await the arrival of
sister Elizabeth and her family,
Amelia betraying that there is no
little animosity among the surviv-
ors. She persuades her husband to
assist her in appropriating some
of grandfather’s possessions, to
the candid and priggish horror of
Child Vickie, in an astounding
flaxen wig. The possessions include
a remarkable. kimona clad statue,
Yvonne Chan.

Grandad isn’t dead, as we might
guess, but, after some heated fam-
ily discussion, comes in very alive,

Continued on Page 4, Col. 3

Merion Exclaims

To. Hell With You

by Frederica Koller

To Hell With You, a comedy-
farce by Frederic Witney, was the
offering of the Mérion Freshmen.
This play dealt with a woman’s
dream of her descent into hell, her
meeting with Beelzebub, and her
subsequent return to reality.

While the sets were of the
simplest nature, they served the
production well, The step ladder,
fire extinguisher, and gray back-
drop created a hellish atmosphere.
The’ costuming was_ effective;
numerous sets of red underwear
made their appearance on_ the
other devils, Beelzebub looked par-
ticularly realistic in black pants,
red sox, and a red and black
blazer.

Although the entire cast did a
commendable job, special mention
‘should be made of Betsy Jones’
portrayal of Beelzebub and Diane
Campuzano’s Linda—the woman
of whom Beelzebub remarked,
“Hell is your spiritual home.”

The play itself was an interest-
ing and highly amusing piece with
most of the humor being derived
from the comments of an off-stage
voice. And, on the whole, the Mer-
ion Freshmen did a creditable job,
despite the usual prompting diffi-
culties causing the action to lag
somewhat.

The freshmen, their advisor, and
director showed wisdom in the
selection of such a_ piece which
was easily adaptable to the short
rehearsal schedule allotted for the
production of these plays. All fac-
tors considered, To Hell With You
was thoroughly enjoyable.

East House, Inn
Stage Barrie Play

by Lois Potter

Barrie’s Shall We Join’ the
Ladies? .was a good choice for
East, House and the College Inn,
as it calls for a large cast of
characters, only one of whom has
any great number of lines to
learn. On the other hand, however,
the play is a difficult one to do,
precisely because of the size of
its cast and the need for creating
an atmosphere from the reaction
of the characters to each other.

To the actors’ credit must go
many fine individual performances
in minor parts; for the atmos-
phere, one can only regret that
ten hours of rehearsal were not
quite enough time to combine
these many separate talents into
a unified whole.

Barrie was right to leave his
mystery unsolved. When there are
twelve suspects, practically indis-
tinguishable from one another, the
audience. does not, in the space of
a one-act play, get interested
enough in any of them to care
greatly which one is guilty.

The only objection one can offer
to the’ way the ending was
handled in this particular perform-
ance is that the scream was per-
haps not the right kind of scream
for the occasion. There are so
many screams, squeals, and as-
sorted signs of fright during the
dinner scene that the final one
must be extra-horrible to. produce
its effect: perhaps..a. weird—cres-
cendo ending in gasps and a
gurgle.

As Smith, Marilyn Rubel was
chiefly responsible for keeping the
play moving, and, handling the
part very well, played with dead
seriousness and a suggestion of
menace beneath a suave exterior.
| Not surprisingly, the ladies were
able to do more with their roles
than the men, who had. to. devote
so much of their actirig ability to
playing men that there was little
room left for playing individuals.
Two dashing exceptions were Alice
Hooker as Captain Jennings and
Marianna Pinchot as Sir Joseph;
as Mr. Preen, Helen Rodnite was
agreeably fatuous in a fatuous
part. Among the ladies, Diana
Myer; Carol Lemon, Marilyn Kil-
burn, and Rob Colby were particu-
larly effective.

Others in the cast were Mimi
Armstrong (Mrs. Castro), Susan
Zebley (Mr.-Gourlay),;-Mary- Beebe
(Mr. Vaile), Laning Pepper (Mrs.
Preen), Betsy Barber (Mrs.
Bland), Sasha Siemel (policeman),
and Sue*Johnson and Lynn Mc-
Carthy, who deserve especial
praise for excellent performances
in the silent parts of Dolphin and
the maid. .

East House and College Inn, and
their director Kitsy Cushman, ad-
visor Tony Killip, and stage man-
ager Carol Levenson, are to be
commended for the choice of a
play giving many people the op-
portunity of acting, for some fine
individual talents, and for some
delightful moments of high
comedy. :





Radnorites Contrib
With Production O

Radnor’s contribution to the
evening’s entertainment consisted
of stark realism which sometimes
verged on the melodramatic. En-
titled The. Hard Heart, the play
dealt with an industrial town in
the throes of new conflicts between
labor and management, a deplor-

ute ‘Stark Realism’
f ‘The Hard Heart”~

The Son (Marilyn Ottenburg)
seemed most decidedly to belong to
the Beat, Beat Generation—he
strutted around like a real, hon-
est-to-goodness hoodlum sporting
a carpe diem philosophy. His rest-
lessness presumably caused by the
social unrest led him to participate



-able-situation which at once estab-.
lished an explanation for the’ de-
nouement of theplay.



during which he throws a stone at
= Continued on Page 4, Col. 1

| most.hot-bloodedly in the rebellion,