Skip to main contentThere weren't many opportunities for me to see live theater while growing up in the agrarian purgatory of Clark County, Wash., where the only drama lay in outrunning shotgun blasts from kindly neighbors as you cut across their cow pastures to school. But one could occasionally find information on the theater in The Columbian, Vancouver's daily newspaper. Granted, these tended to be boosterish appraisals of the local Peanut Gallery Theater's latest experiment with Harvey or Plaza Suite, but it was often enough to blot out the oppressive green fields and blue skies that retarded my artistic development.
Then in the summer of 1974, I read that a series of filmed plays (many combining the talents of the original cast and directors) was scheduled to run at Vancouver's Broadway Theater--a little Art Deco cinema, two blocks from the Kiggins Theater downtown, that was lovingly bulldozed for surface parking in 1980.
The films were part of the American Film Theatre series, a scheme concocted by producer Ely Landau to film famous contemporary plays for a mass audience. Though he received great backing from American producer Henry T. Weinstein, Landau's choice of plays and talent tended toward the British. But the showings were treated like theatrical events, complete with ushers and playbills for the audience.
Fourteen plays were filmed between 1973 and 1975, before funding dried up. I never had a chance to see any of the films, as they were all slapped with R ratings and, those being strict times, 12-year-olds were unwelcome. But descriptions of the films stayed with me. Even so, after their initial runs, few others had a chance to see them either, as Mr. Landau failed to pay Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Weinstein slapped an injunction on the showing of the films. But now that poor Mr. Weinstein has died, the films are back in circulation, and the Film Center has gathered together eight from the series that probably haven't been seen in Portland since the '70s.
Three of the films have already been screened: Christopher Miles' rather disappointing version of Genet's Maids, with Glenda Jackson and Susannah York; Sir Peter Hall's brilliant and surprisingly cinematic take on Pinter's The Homecoming (with Ian Holm recreating his stage role as Lenny); and John Frankenheimer's almost definitive production of O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, which has powerful performances by Robert Ryan and Fredric March, though Lee Marvin makes an unsatisfying Hickey. But the next five films are worth seeking out for various reasons.
Simon Gray's Butley (7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, July 25-26) gave Alan Bates one of his greatest successes on the stage (both in the West End and on Broadway). Bates is Butley, a once-brilliant English Lit lecturer who's become a garrulous sot taken to reciting Beatrix Potter. Butley is a "day in the life of" piece in which the self-destructing prof must confront both his wife's and his male lover's departure from his life. He must also contend with earnest students who stalk him for advice, as well as with the publishing success of his departmental rival, Edna (Jessica Tandy). Directed by Harold Pinter (this is his only film as director), Butley is as witty as it is tragic. It has become the companion piece to Gray's later play Japes, in which the playwright delves into his relationship with his prickly brother, a once-brilliant literary academic who died of drink.
Arguably, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance (8 pm Thursday, July 31, 7 pm Sunday, Aug. 3) is his best play, though it's tough to get right (as was evinced four seasons ago at ART). Unfortunately, Tony Richardson's film version, with the screenplay by Albee, fails miserably. Though Albee still considers this version "interesting," he was, according to his biographer Mel Gussow, disappointed in many aspects of the shoot, including Richardson's lack of enthusiasm for the project. Richardson gets the tone completely wrong; the piece is too somber, and much of Albee's scathing humor is played far too seriously. Paul Scofield's Tobias borders on the comatose, while Kate Reid as the alcoholic Claire is too loud and morose. But three performances stand out: Lee Remick as Julia, Joseph Cotten as Harry, and Katharine Hepburn as Agnes. This is really Hepburn's film, and though she's really playing herself to the hilt, it works. As Albee said, "It's very fortunate that Agnes resembled Hepburn."
Joseph Losey first directed Brecht's Galileo (7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 8-9) on Broadway in 1947 with Charles Laughton in the title role. There wasn't a chance to see this AFT version before we went to press, but the cast sounds outstanding: John Gielgud, Margaret Leighton, Tom Conti and the great Topol as Galileo.
Director Lindsay Anderson and playwright David Storey formed one of the finest theatrical partnerships in Britain in the 1960s and '70s through six plays. In Celebration (7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 15-16) was their first great success in 1969. To celebrate their parents' 40th anniversary, three sons (Alan Bates, James Bolam and Brian Cox) return to the dying mining town they've escaped. After dinner and cake are finished, the knives finally come out and some disturbing memories are unleashed. Anderson, though a noted film director (If..., Oh Lucky Man), can't quite seem to shake off his own stage directions, but In Celebration is a beautifully crafted work nonetheless, with excellent performances especially from Anderson and Storey's favorite character actors, Bill Owen and Constance Chapman.
That angry young man John Osborne never truly seemed in his element when he veered from working-class themes. Luther (7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 22-23) is like a Galileo for All Seasons, as much Brecht as it is Bolt in structure. Following Martin Luther's embrace of and eventual break with the Catholic Church, Osborne can only seem to generate power when he pairs the monk on a mission with a working-class detractor. This was a play that succeeded because of a potent central performance by Albert Finney. In the screen version, Stacy Keach can't quite match the intensity and spittle at which Finney excels.
Northwest Film Center at the Whitsell Auditorium (unless otherwise noted),
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave., 221-1156. July 25-Aug. 3. $6-$7.
WWeek 2015