University of Virginia Library

The Audience

The audience plays its part as
well. They respond to the
cheerleaders' prompting in a unified
fashion that would inspire the Red
Army Chorus to emulation.

Some techniques have been
refined elsewhere, which makes us
realize how much work lies ahead if
U. Hall is to give us fine theater. A
recent trip to Duke (a trip the
Cavaliers would have done well to
have avoided) indicated to this
reporter the quality of their
mise-en-scene. The cheerleaders
there are first-rate dancers (ours
appear to be of a more sedentary
variety) and provide, with the help
of their pep band, the atmosphere
of a really good strip joint: not
elegant, but bawdy. The intimate
size of Duke's indoor stadium
(rumored to hold eight thousand
souls — whether bodies accompany
is not known) aids considerably as
the walls reverberate with such
sounds of the Fifties as "Two bits,
six bits" and whatever else people
used to say when they cheered.
Duke's penchant for perpetuating
nostalgia moves any whose tastes
favor spectacle over sport.

But what can we do to
encourage the dramatic art of
basketball? Coach Gibson is
certainly a great director, but a few
suggestions could be made.
Everyone knows a good cager must
be a good actor, for how else will a
ref see those personal fouls. Those
players who slam to the floor at the
wispy touch of an opponent's
elbow are doing fine but a few
more fights would certainly enliven
the action.

The audience can do its bit as
well. Rubber chickens were a great
innovation, but the field of
technical fouls is open ended and
has limitless possibilities for the
imaginative spectator and potential
participant.

It is with anxious anticipation
that I await tomorrow's game.
After all, each game is Opening
Night and the critics are always in
the audience.