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Show "Samuel Beckett" Interesting and Enjoyable By Janet Weaver "Interesting and enjoyable; en-joyable; but not for everyone" would have to be the way this critic describes "An Evening With Samuel Beckett". If you go to a play for elaborate costumes, simply to be entertained, and a plot you can follow, you won't enjoy this innovative bit of Theatre. But if you like to stretch your mind and your imagination and like the informal atmosphere of a delightful and also educational for young Theatre patrons who have always wondered "How do they do that?" Some of the selections were pure nonsense and others were very symbolic, but each will have to interpret in-terpret those symbols for themselves. Samuel Beckett is a contemporary poet but it is interesting to note that he dwelt quite a bit on that age-old age-old theme used by poets since the beginning of time-death. time-death. Mr. Gilg chose a good variety to represent Beckett's works and used some unusual and unorthodox unor-thodox ways of presenting said selections. In changing the tempo to meet the mood of the selection some of the speech was too fast and one had to listen very carefully in order to catch the subtleties sub-tleties being presented. All cast members sustained their characters" well; but Robin Stepp in "From Endgame" came across to me as the strongest character with Becke Wilenski's "From Endgame" En-dgame" and "Not I" as close seconds. Beckett uses some profanity and the theme of one of the selections would be rated at least PG, but both are commonly seen and heard on TV and neither is so obtrusive as to be the dominating aspect of the production. And now if you are thoroughly confused but curious, go to "An Evening . . with Samuel Beckett" to enjoy, experience, or at least find interesting. I enjoyed it, my 11 year old son found it interesting, wierd, and understood more of it than I thought he would, and some people left before it was over. Bohemian Poetry-reading . session; then by all means grab your beanbag chair and attend "An Evening with Samuel Beckett". Director Gilg has done an admirable job of creating an informal atmosphere which allows one to feel a part of the scene without actually taking part. The seating is arranged in a semi-circle with one side being devoted to cushions (or room for your own beanbag chair). You might have to move a little during the performance per-formance to get out of the way of an actor, or you might have the privilege of having the actor come right up to where you are sitting and sharing his lines with you. As one waits for the performance to begin he eventually becomes aware of poetry reading in the background which gradually takes over and one discevers that in essence the play has begun. The small cast has the opportunity of using their talents in a variety of ways and while I did not enjoy all 'scenes equally, I think most Theatre Patrons will find one or more scenes with which they can identify, relate, and enjoy. Ken Cook's "Act Without Words" was well done and the obvious use of stage props, techniques, the Stage Manager, etc. were |