Thursday. Augusts. 1991 — THEBULLETIN — 9
ASHLAND — THEA TRE A T ITS BEST
Ndw in its 56th season, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, just north of the ^California border, is a theatrical paradise which annually draws thousands of theatre lovers. The eight-month season offers 10 plays on three stages with emphasis on the Bard. It took three days in Ashland to see six productions all of which were outstanding.
Ashland means above all Shakespeare on the open Elizabethan stage. It is indeed a most amiable setting to enjoy the best of the Bard in productions that are largely conventional and traditional. The stage itself does not allow for modem adaptations on this particular space.
This season the three open air productions are exceptional. For those who like the rarely performed Shakespeare, Henry VI, Pan One is a sweeping historical saga which, though it lacks some of the dramatic intensity of
Henry V or Richard HI, still offers a most disturbing portrait of the court. It is well acted and most concisely directed.
Juiius Caesar was a different matter. Here director Michael Kevin opted for a very ritualistic and barbaric version of the play, emphasizing the need of the Romans for blood and their belief in the supernatural. This was not so much a portrait of Rome as we know it but more a presentation of a cruel and barbaric tribe whose people enjoy secret gatherings. And as was the case in Henry Vl^it was also obvious here that power corrupts and that yearning for power corrupts eveii more. Once again the acting was excellent,- the; visuals striking and evocative.
Shakespeare of a different nature came to life in The Taming of the Shrew in which Sheryl Taub was a spellbinding Katherine, a shrew if ever here was one, yet at the
Dichter tunes in on past
Distinguished pianist Misha Dichter dazzled local music lovers recently, performing Mozart*s 17 th piano concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under the lively and accommodating baton of Andrew Litton.
After the concert, Dichter devoted some time to The Bulletin to talk aboiit his careen
J. Henry Fair
DICHTER
Dichter was bom in Shanghai 45 years ago to Jewish-Polish parents who had fled Europe at the outbreak of World War II. They lost all their family in the war and travelled across Russia until they reached China, where they lived for five years. When Dichter was two years old, the family settled in Los Angeles where the pianist grew up. Today, he makes his home in New York City, with his wife, pianist Cipa' Dichter, and their two teenage sons.
At the age of 21, Dichter won the coveted Tschai-kowsky competition in M os-7 cow. "I don't beiieve in competitioner but it's almost impossible to start a career these days without sometliing like that. Any wayTl have been faithful to one promise 1 made to myself 25 years ago which was that I would neverbe on a jury of any competition. So 1 have turned down Moscow, Warsaw and Van Cliburn. 1 don't want to be part of deciding anybody's late"-
Dichter recalls that he didn't expect to win the Tschaikowsky. "It was my first international competi-
tion. I really was fortunate that I came to it rather young. My teacher at the time, Ros-ina Lhevinne, told me she thought I had a pretty good chance to make the finals. Already I thought the woman was crazy, i had a very modest attitude towards the whole thing."
Althbugh Dichter is not willing to reveal all the inside gossip of that competition, he does assert that "every competition has its dirty laundry." And as an example, he says, **it always struck me as very strange that a string player would happen to be on the jury: Very strange sort of things like that."
In contrast to many of his colleagues, Dichter does not teach. He says he has no time but he also believes that the best school is the concert hall.
"Most of what I learned was going to concerts and coming home and wondering as a ten-year-sold howwouldl ever app^ach that sound. . This is Sjomethiiig young pep-^pie can get at concerts that they cannot get from teachers. In a concert you can capture the inexplicable, the magic of the moment." -
Dichter was not a child prodigy. "My career was completely backwards, I had sort of non-teachers between ages six and 12. But 1 had a childhood. I wasn't a prodigy and 1 am very grateful for that. Everything was slow moving until it accelerated from age 12 and especially after the Tschaikowsky com^ petition."
"Dichter has no planned concerts in Vancouver in the near future. This January, however, he performs the Tschaikowsky first -piano concerto with the Israeli Philharmonic. : ■
Today the pianist liitiits himself to performing in North America, Europe, Israel and Japan;
And the best place to play the - piano, he says with a smile, is "to walk 15 blocks from my apartment to Carnegie Hall."
MICHAEL AJZENSTADT
same time a gentle woman whoappreciates love. Her co-star: was Henry .Wo'ronicz, recently appointed.: festival artistic director. Although not one of the Bard's first rate comedies, the production was thoroughly entertaining — the audience adored it. In fact the entire run of Shrew was sold out even before opening night, although there were always last minute tickets to be found at the door.
At the festival theatre I missed Thornton Wilder's Owr Jo WW and Jerry Sterner's Other People's Money^ Word of niouth has it that the latter is an excellent production. (The script was not impressive in its Vancouver Playhouse production last season.) I did see, though, a solid presentation of Shaw's Major Barbara in Which Taub portrayed the smaller role of Jenny Hill. The play deals with many of Shaw's favorite topics, like child-parent relationships and the morality and ethics of war. It sounded as powerful today as when it was written^ more than a few decades ago. Among a very strong cast Dan Kremer portrayed Andrew Undershaft — the man who makes his money from manufacturing and selling arms — with dramatic power and conviction.
On the smaller, intimate Black Swan Stage, while I missed Alan Ayckbourn's delightful black comedy Woman in Mind and Lee Blessing's Two Rooms (a drama about hostages in Lebanon), I did see Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad. It was a pleasant surprise, a relatively new play
which is pensive and provoca-•tive, yet in a most subtle way... The play works on a variety of levels, each of which is illuminating, each of which touches many of society's sacred cows.
Its most, obv40%,Jeyel is that of acadeihia, but Some _ Americans Abroadjiiso y/ork& as a look at the theatre mania phenomena of American society. When it is presented in ja festival to which people from all over North America come in order to sample their portion of theatre, the repercussions and above all the dramatic irony are more than obvious. But above all the play works on a human level. Every one of its 11 characters is intriguing, captivating us with his or her sincerity and also at times, dishonesty. And we can relate to them because they are all prototypes, sort of everyman and ^everywoman whose traits we' recognize in ourselves.
Last but not least at Ashland is The Merchant of Venice: Daniel Zaslow, a student rabbi in Ashland^ was quoted as saying, **It is the modem director's duty, after the Holocaust, to bring out Shylock's noblest qualities aiid to play down the problems inherent in the script."
Libby Appel's production is first rate on its own terms yet it does not really deal with all the play's facets. This modem day adaptation in which the set, costumes and acting brings the plot to our own time, fopuses on the love of Bassanio for Portia. The entire Shylock portion is somewhat in the background here and his daughter, Jessica, is never developed enough.
ARAFAT
From Page 1
can be no contacts at all with the enemy.
"Therefore we must explain this to the people, because you have to prepare yourself to reach this stage. We have not, as of yet, been able to prepare the requirements to say that we have begun this stage," Arafat told the interviewer.
A fourth, "partial strike" stage of the intifada has been reached, he claimed. "There exists a seventh stage, of which 1 will say nothing whatsoever."
Asked how to assess the political stand Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt must-take in letting Palestinians operate out of their territory, the PLO chairman called for unity "as an Arab nation" in the face of
"one large force" of American control spreading over the Middle East following the Persian Gulf war. .
"If we face it [united], as an Arab nation, we will then be part of the new order. Otherwise, there will be a hew arrangement made at the expense of our future, at the expense of our children, and at the expense of our nation."
B.B. honors pair
WASHINGTON — Rep. William Gray III (D-Pa,) and civil-rights attorney Joseph Rauh Jr. have been awarded the B'nai B'fi||i Center for Minitory Relations' second Martin Luther King Jr.-Abraham Joshua Heschel Award. jta
Christopher Briscoe
OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL, Ashland: Portia (LHta lyary) and Bassanio (Dion Luther) in Siiakespeare's Merehantof Venice. Directed by LIbby Appel, it runs till Oct 27 in An^us Bowmer theatre.
Shylock himself, though far from a nice guy here, is not presented asa prototype Jew. Rather he is a spiteful moneylender whom no one seems to like: Appel also neglects the real racist aspects of the play as well as its emphasis on friendship and bonds. She is content with a quick moving comedy, which the Merchant is. But she is taking the easy way out as Shakespeare's play is more than that. More reac-
tion details to this production will be coming.
The Ashland season continues until Oct. 27, though the three open air productions conclude Sept. 29. For tickets and information call (503) 482-4331. And if you can't make the trip plan on attending Ashland 1992, when the Shakespeare will be Othello, Henry VI, Part II, As You Like It and All's Well That Ends Well.
Mar
DR. MARTENS MEN'S & LADIES' SHOES & BOOTS DIRECT FROM ENGLAND
r I I I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I
I I I I I i I I I I I I I I I I i I I I
I__.
ARITZIA
106a Rolisoii Oakridge Center Metrotown Center Park Royal
HILLS OF KERRISDALE
2125 W. 41st Ave.
^266^9177
AND NOW OPEN
ARITZIA
THE DR. MARTENS STORE 1208Robson 689-4998 .J
JUSTICE
NEEDS A HAND ..
HOW YmJCAlVHEVR.^ .
Jonathan Pollard urgently needs your help to meet the costs for his defense.
Please send your check to:
^OLIARD
P.O. BOX 3257 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06515 t
(Please Print) NAME
ADDRESS CITY •
PROVINCE
POSTAL CODE_
Amount of Contribution $
Check Enclosed YES
NO
.Telephone (optional) (