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GREAT ACTING, GREAT DIRECTION

"STREAMERS" A KNOCKOUT

By R. Woodward

• The most important thing in a work of art is not whether it's pretty or ugly--or even whether it's perfect or imperfect--but whether it's alive or dead. David Rabe's play Streamers, as being currently presented by Center Repertory Theatre, is one of the most alive live theater presentations that you will ever have a chance to see anywhere.

The situation depicted by the playwright is an explosive oneeven more explosive, it turns out, than the wary audience expects. Streamers is set in an army barracks in 1965 and its six major characters start out already tense at the prospect of serving in the Viet Nam action.

Two of the characters are middle-aged solider buddies, Cokes and Rooney, hardened (they would like to think) by having served in World War II and

Korea. They sing to the tune of “Beautiful Dreamer" a song that begins,

Beautiful streamer, Open for me, The sky is above me, But no canopy.

(It's traditional to sing this af. ter jumping from an airplane if one notices that one's parachute is not going to open.)

hid ambivalence as an unad. mitted attraction to himself.

Into this situation walks Caryle, another young black man, who is looking for a brother. Obviously a loser, very lonely, he uses bad-talk with a vehemence that indicates desperation. He bad-talks Richie, makes advances at him. Richie, half-repulsed, half. attracted, does not know how to interpret him. (The audience is even more ambivalent.) Billy is appalled. Dramatic explosions

start.

.Far from blunting in any way, David Rabe's play at Centerep turns it on the audience full blast. It is almost impossible to imagine this play being given a better or more powerful production. Not only do the direction and individual performances show exceptional insight and control. The productions also shows that someone was almost unbelieveably exacting in casting it.

tors that what seem to be great performance here most certainly are great performances.

Mark McKinney as the human powder keg Carlyle manages to scare the hell out of the audience, unnerves it continually, without ever letting it lose sight of the fact that no matter how difficult Carlyle may be, he must be regarded as a feeling human being and be given a certain amount of respect as such. He must not be seen as an abstraction or just as some powerful natural force, and Mr. McKinney succeeds so well in keeping this from happening that even using an adjective like "psychotic" to describe Carlyle seems a bit inhuman.

The part of Roger, unlike that of Carlyle, is that of a person who adapts and reacts rather than causes thing to happen. Such a part is no less difficult for an actor than a more overtly active one. Especially in this

play, the actor has to help define The original New York cast what's happening with a living may have been excellent in its presence and not be just a piece own way. But photographs of it of scenery or a mechanical foil. that come with the published Daniel Whitner manages to be edition of the play show the acso spontaneous seeming and tors playing Richie, Billy, three-dimensionally alive in Carlyle, and Roger looking like responding to the other perthirtyish New York actors. Cenformances that acting teachers terep's cast does not look like a should bring their classes to bunch of actors. The audience watch him. for this production starts out The other four major characters are young men in their early with less disbelief to have twenties with no previous suspended than is usual and the military experience. The only emotional energies of every likely reasons for their being body--audience members as together are those given by the well as cast members--are conplay; Viet Nam and the draft. centrated more exclusively than One, Roger, a young black is usual on what's most essennot without a certain amount of street wisdom, is somewhat overly sure of his ability to adapt to any situation. He shares a cadre room with two young white men who at times get on his nerves by being at each other continually. One, Billy, a 24-year-old college graduate, tries to act not too educated, trying to control some suspected tendency in himself towards emtpy glibness, wondering if his suspected shows lack of experience.

man

The other young white man, Richie, who is gay and would like to seem more self-assured about it than he actually does, teases Billy continually he is eager to interpret Bill's badly.

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tial in the drama.

Casting, however, even the most exacting, can only do so much. The major roles in Streamers would be so difficult for any ac-

In any other play than this one E.D. Phillips as Sergeant Rooney would probably have stolen the show. Swaggering and profane, Rooney is a long. time career soldier. He does not miss an opportunity to tell the young men that next to soldiers with the experience of him nad his buddy Cokes they are mere "shit-cakes." Recalling what. Phillips gets out of this role will

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bring smiles of near disbelief for years to come.

Sergeant Cokes is middleaged, unmarried, and dying of leukemia, and Jake L. Rufli who plays him must show not only how Cokes is now but also give the audience a sense of this man's entire life. Not just great acting skill is required here; deep and thorough understanding is also. Mr. Rufii shows that he has plenty of both and gives the sort of totally realized performance that makes playwrights love and admire actors and not just regard them as necessary evils.

Clifford Fetters' performance as Billy is the hardest to analyze because it is so uncannily persuasive. During a performance the viewer has to really force himself to pay specific attention to Mr. Fetters' technical excellences . diction, timing, order to remind himself that this response to the other actors in

is an acting performance. In addition to being the definitive Billy, Mr. Fetters obliges even those playgoers with the greatest pretenses of sophistication to be less patronizing towards those sim. ple folk, who, as theatrical tradition has it, used to yell to Othello to not believe what lago was telling him.

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In a presentation full of unforgettable images the one that most haunts the playgoer for days after is Bradley Boyer as Richie weeping uncontrollably towards the end of the play. Richie is weak, edgy and man. nered, at times cannot resist making himself into a campy figure of fun and Mr. Boyer deserves great respect as a conscientious and dsiciplined artist for avoiding all cheap caricature at the expense of this character. But right after the play's violent climax respect is dwarfed by awe when Richie precipitates the audience's catharsis with his own emotional outburst. Skill and discipline in acting one can calmly scrutinize. Power such as this one can only wonder at and be humbly grateful for.

The final and by no means faintest plaudit here must go to the director Thomas J. Fulton, Jr. Streamers is an extremely difficult play to put on. The various particulars must be more powerful and dynamic than is usual with most productions yet these particulars must be

more completely welded together to form a much tighter unity than is usual. That this production is so seamless, has such an overwhelming central thrust, can only indicate that one of the strongest of directorial minds is in control.

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