 | The Cavalier daily Tuesday, December 2, 1969 |  |
'Pantagleize', Farce
To Make You Sad
By Russ Gustafson
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer
The Virginia Players will present
"Pantagleize" during the week of
Dec. 8-13, 8:30 p.m., in Minor Hall.
Reservations for the comic farce,
already cast and in rehearsal, are
now being taken.
The play, described by the
author as "a farce to make you
sad," concerns a day in the life of
Pantagleize. On his fortieth birthday,
Pantagleize utters the words
"what a lovely day," the phrase
that sets a revolution in motion.
Although he knows nothing of
what is going on, he is proclaimed
leader of the struggle and through a
fantastic set of coincidences,
manages to rob the city's well
guarded bank of its treasures.
Playwright Michel de Ghelderode
claims that his inspiration for
the Quixotic character Pantagleize
came in part from the comic genius
of Charles Chaplin. Pantagleize is
Ghelderode's modern day everyman,
who is useless to today's
society because he has nothing to
sell or trade, and has only love and
beauty to offer. In this play, the
author shows that modern man
does not choose his destiny, but
instead has it thrust upon him by
his environment.
Although Mr. Ghelderode has
been writing plays since the 1920s,
he was not produced in this
country until five years after his
death, when the APA-Phoenix
Theatre presented "Pantagleize" on
Broadway in 1967. The playwright
wrote plays exclusively for the
Fetish Folk Theatre for many
years, but his drama is universal
and, in the case of "Pantagleize,"
not only comedic but quite timely.
The play is being directed by
David W. Weiss, chairman of the
Department of Speech and Drama
at the University, and features
Charles Howard, graduate student
in drama, as Pantagleize.
The box office is open from 2-5
p.m. daily, and reservations may be
made at 293-3051.
| The Cavalier daily Tuesday, December 2, 1969 | |