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Page 12 HIGH GEAR MARCH 1981

ENTERTAINMENT

Dazzling Indulgences ́ a Play House milestone

By R. Woodward

Reviewer's note: The following review missed appearing in the November 1980 issue of HIGH GEAR due to difficulties with

meeting a printer's deadline. While it is not usually our policy to print a review of a theatrical production no longer running, this review has turned out to have some importance beyond being a report of a current event. The production described ran from October 17, 1980 to November 9, 1980. It may end up being regarded as an important theatrical milestone, and it seemed like a good idea to have in print a detailed report of it.

This year's Cleveland Play House mini-series at its 160 seat Brooks Theatre has opened with an explosion of talent.

The play is Indulgences in the Louisville Harem, recently written by, up and coming, playwright John Orlock. Having it produced by the Play House has given a top director and four top actors opportunities to soar.

Set in Louisville, Kentucky in 1902, the play deals with two unmarried sisters, 34 and 37 years old, who mysteriously receive in the mail a packet of books. One volume is entitled Mrs. Whiting's Catalogue of Gentlemen and lists and describes meritorious unmarried men one may write to inquire about. Convincing themselves, at least

momentarily, that Mrs. Whiting's enterprise is a respectable one, they send in a letter describing themselves, and soon two suitors arrive.

The play combines pathos, whimsy. vivid poetry, a few touches of unnerving madness, and a couple of stretches of some of the most annihilating hilarity. ever seen on a Cleveland stage.

The play has many abrupt changes of tone and viewpoint but director William Rhys and his cast of four have managed to convey the artistic orientation beneath all of the disorientation. The playgoer always feels certain that things are exactly where they belong, despite not being able to figure out how they got from where they were a few moments earlier and having no idea where they might be a few moments hence.

Not knowing what much of it is supposed to mean does nothing to interfere with the audience's enjoyment. A sense of quality and conviction is so allpervading that you somehow decide to just trust it no matter what.

As Florence, the older, more serious-minded, and more socially aware of the two sisters, Catharine Albers firmly grasps and adroitly wields the imagery in her dialog. Much of this imagery consists of long familiar objects in the family home that

Florence is becoming ever more

edgy in handling. She tells us in her monologs that she has never been a clumsy person. Yet she has been breaking things lately. With a quiet, yet somehow deeply resonating intensity, Albers gets across Florence's fear, not entirely conscious, that her poise, a major element of her self-image, is being gradually undermined.

Harper Jane McAdoc as Viola, the younger, less careful, and more trusting sister, regales the audience with the character's naive gusto. Her slyly energetic performance lures the audience into a sense of coziness and comfort with the character which makes it feel all the more vulnerable and threatened during some unexpected moments of horror. Viola's lack of guile and self-

awareness, we are made to realize, makes her unable to defend herself, not only against rip-off artists, but also against sinister aspects of her own mind.

The moments of gothic horror and intense brooding, rather than putting any damper on the laughs, serve as an extremely effective foil for them.

Allen Leatherman and Wayne S. Turney as the two suitors have some hysterical comedy material and they handle it with consummate control.

One suitor, Winfield Davis, played by Turney, explains to the sisters that the other suiter Amos

'Antigone'opera opens here

An experimental chamber opera "Antigone" will open at Theater Bridge March 21 and run thru April 25. It will play Saturdays 8:30 at our studio in One Playhouse Square; except April 11. April 10 & 11 Friday & Saturday 8:30 and Sunday 2 p.m. matinee we will show at Hawken School in Gates Mills.

Work is built in thirteen sections, seven traditional numbers interleaved with six electronic, textural, and aleatory parts.

is a famous mesmerist who mysteriously lost his speaking voice seven years earlier. Davis assures the sisters that such is his rapport with Professor Robbilet, whose assistant he is, that the Professor has only to move his lips at any time and Davis's own voice will automatically provide the sound of the words.

In addition to providing the deep voiced sound for all of the Professor's speech, Davis also persuades Robbilet to join him to give a demonstration of his famous act, which is based on Davis being hypnotized.

While hypnotized, Davis continues to provide the sound of the Professor's words, even when the Professor tells us, "This man is in a deep sleep," and even when Davis is supposedly hypnotized into thinking he is a chicken and answers all questions with one cluck for yes and two clucks for no.

Leatherman, whose real voice is never head, achieves an eloquence, often moving, win his eyes and his facial expressions. He makes the audience aware that the playwright's joke is much

more than just a joke, and that

being always eager, sometimes desperate, to communicate has made Robbilet disregard as best he can any reservations he may have once had about looking

ridiculous.

Turney, always an alert perRobbilet, played by Leatherman, former, achieves a new level of intensity and control. The challenge of an extremely difficult part has released a torrent of expressiveness.

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In addition to giving an awesome display of comedy technique and bringing down the house, he also gets across stunningly some of the play's most resonating moments.

His delivery of a poetic monolog about taking a banker's 50 year old wife into glowing orange hotel room one hot afternoon provides as much sheer beauty as anything ever spoken on a Cleveland Play House stage. This is a production that does something for everybody, for the audience, for the playwright, for the cast, for the director, and not least of all for the Cleveland Play House itself as an institution. This production clearly shows

Certain disco techniques augment traditional lighting.

The composer grew up here and has worked at La Mama in New York, with the Angels of Light in San Francisco, and at

Vancouver Lab Theatre.

Two of the cast are from CSU: Mary Margone's degree is in Music; she sang in "Augustin" at Dobama. Louis Handtfinger graduated in Theater and played Grandma in our "American Dream." The third is Will Grant, who went to Marlboro College. Jim Jones, whose LP "Wake the Dead" will be released this summer, composed the electronic tape. Greg Selker is marimba. Set is by May Show veteran Rob Mihaly.

You're cordially invited to sit in on a rehearsal anytime. We work most Mondays thru Thursdays 7 to 9 p.m.

Latin lesbian

anthology

NEW YORK (GCN)--A collective of Latin American lesbians has formed here to publish a Latin American lesbian anthology.

"With this anthology," says a statement from the collective, "we wish to provide a sampling of our struggles and interests as Latin lesbians both in the United States and Latin America. Traditionally, the lesbian literature of this country has concentrated on the struggles and concerns of white lesbians. This is an attempt to break with this pattern, to provide information about ourselves, and to convey our identity as Latin lesbians."

types of material: articles, The anthology will include all

poems, songs, and short stories. A limited number of tapes will be provided in such cases where written material cannot be submitted. The collective welcomes and it will be published in the materials in Spanish or English, language in which it is submitted. If editing is necessary, it will be done only with the cooperation of the author.

The deadline for submitting materials is April 30, 1981; after that date, the collective will be working on selecting the actual material to be included in the

anthology. Mail all entries to LALA, c/o D.L., 170 Avenue C, For more information, call Digna Apt. 4-H, New York, NY 10009. or Juanita Ramos at (212) 473-6864.

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