Principia College - Sheaf Yearbook (Elsah, IL)

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The Chalk Garden The Chalk Garden, by Enid Bagnold, is equally concerned with the choice between love and exploitation, substance and form, truth and fantasy, health and decay. The cen- tral metaphor of the play is obviously the chalk garden in which little flourishes since the right nutrients are miss- ing. just so, the grandaughter fails to flourish healthily because the right nutrients of love and discipline are miss- ing. It is a play which finally affirms affection, wonder, substance as opposed to mere form and hope and compas- sion as the necessary ingredients for meaningful living. The challenge of The Chalk Garden is establishing bal- ance between the emotional realism and verbal styliza- tion of die play. It is a work whose human problems and anguish are very deep, but whose characters express themselves in an almost superhuman elegance and wit. I think our production had more guts than elegance. But it takes tremendous vocal virtuosity to handle Bagnold's dia logue with the deftness, subtlty and variety it demands. Many professional American actors would have difficulty with it, and did in the original Broadway production. Alan Lindgren

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The Tempest Year after year The Tempest has demonstrated its phil- osophical and theatrical significance. It is Shakespea.re's last play in which he clearly appears to be testing the na- ture of reality. He does this through Prospero who, at the height of his magical powers, realizes the insubstantiality of the mortal life and renounces his occult powers and the attempt to usurp God. Prospero also renounces revenge for forgiveness, hate for love, war for peace. It is a very affirmative play by a man who has tested in his works every approach to life. It is, like every good play, inten- sely moral. Directorically the challenge of The Tempest is to main- tain the play's sweep, robustness and lyricism through the marriage of actors, movement, sound and light. It is a play full of effects and rich in poetry and thought. One must not upstage the other. Alan Lindgren as ie A we 130 ff f 3.34

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