Show Actors Y Need to Dig Deeper Diana By Young Staff Writer The Cripple of is set setin setin in a village on the isle of a small island off the west coast of Ireland Billy who is crippled and ill but intelligent lives with his Aunts who I run a store When mike the local gossip is not trying to have his elderly mother drink to death he visits the store to barter news for food The hot-headed hot Helen abuses her witted dim-witted toothed sweet brother Bartley She works for the egg man and delivers the few eggs that remain after she after she breaks most of them on the heads of anyone who displeases her When mike delivers the news that an American film is being made on a neighboring island Helen and Bart- Bart ley bargain with to row them there Cripple Billy plots to go along and eventually finds himself in Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Hol Hol- lywood where he realizes how much he loves his island home and Helen Beautifully done set costumes and music set the mood of an Irish island so well that it almost feels as though you are there Lilting western Irish accents complete the atmosphere though the unfamiliar grammar and the imposition of Gaelic syntax upon english speech when spoken quickly quick quick- ly sometimes makes it difficult to understand what is being said The Cripple of is a wonderfully written and very funny play Most of the fun of going to a play is the interaction between live actors and a live audience This cast deftly moves the audience through laughter to pity and back to laughter again agam My only disappointment was a alack alack alack lack of depth in some of the charac charac- They are more like caricatures than real people Liam Christopher OBrien O'Brien plays Cripple Billy who supposedly was not only crippled and pathetic but hearted good-hearted as well However this part of his character character character char char- acter did not shine through as clearly clearly clearly clear clear- ly as it could have been I saw nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing but crippled and pathetic In my experience people with handicaps have emotions relationships relationships relationships relation relation- ships and purpose in life A little littlemore littlemore littlemore more of that in Billy would have made him easier for me to connect with Michelle Six's Helen is foulmouthed foulmouthed foulmouthed foul- foul mouthed mean and thoroughly with few other emotions was I-was left wondering what Billy saw in is room for these actors to dig a little deeper into their emotions to create more believable human characters Other characters have more depth and are thereby more com com- Tandy Cronyn and Mary Fogerty are wonderful as Billys Billy's aunties and drunk mother is hilarious Please be aware that this play contains strong language The Cripple of runs through January 22 at the Roy W. W and Elizabeth E. E Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre at South and 1400 East on the University of Utah campus Curtain times are pm p.m. Monday Mon Mon- day Thursday day Thursday pm p.m. Friday and Saturday with a pm p.m. Saturday matinee Tickets are 35 16 There are no discounts for Salt Lake Community Community Com Corn College Students I |