The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 24

14B News-Leader Saturday, February 28, 1998 Page edited by Laura Vaughn; call 836-1256 after 10 a.m. Life Times ketors effectively deliver prion's politicized 'Butler CoasaiisiBssloBis to By Larry T. Collins For the News-Leader to i irv. Rodger Riney, President Amazingly, there's not a vulgar word uttered in the two hours. Orton's thoughts may have been crude, but his epigrammatic writing recalls the elegant wit of Oscar Wilde.

The six cast members enunciate the clever dialogue clearly, even if their English accents are not uniformly successful. Dan Tipton is impressive as clinic owner Dr. Prentice, who is interrupted by his wife during an attempted seduction and, by the end of the play, has been accused of half a dozen other affronts to decency. Sarah Parker is amusing as his naughty, sex-starved wife, while Melissa Hogan, Randy Harris and Justin Zimmerman are effective in the secondary roles. The play's success hinges, however, on the unhinged character of Dr.

Ranee, the government official who drops by to inspect the private hospital and is then caught up in the asylum's madness, both real and feigned. Ranee, it turns out, actually relishes the dementia on display, because every aberration reinforces his preconceived notions of insane behavior. Patric Carroll carries himself with stiff authority, then gradually loosens up as Ranee's little lapses into lascivi-ousness reveal his true nature. Farce, of course, demands perfect verbal timing and precise execution of physical comedy. At Wednesday's preview, the cast hadn't quite found the right rhythms for some of the bright lines and frantic sight gags.

And without stylistic flair, Orton's politicized farces can seem repetitive and tiresomely tendentious. It's likely, though, that director Richard Dines and his actors have quickened the pace and refined the delivery of the play's sophisticated language. The best performance of "What the Butler Saw" could well be today's final one at 7:30 p.m. For tickets call the Vandivort Center Theatre at 831-8001 Larry T. Collins reviews music and theater for the News-Leader.

I British dramatist Joe Orton was as much a merry prankster as a playwright. For example, the last of his three full-length farces, "What the Butler Saw," is populated by psychiatrists, their patients, a porter and a policeman, but there isn't a butler in sight. What the audience witnesses is an antic HEVIEW Send-up of classic farce Situations and a darkly humorous attack on middle-class English values, circa 1967. The current production at the Vandivort is a Baird Student Theatre project presented by the Southwest Missouri State University theater and dance department and Springfield Little Theatre. Set in a private clinic, the play addresses such touchy topics as insanity, governmental incompetence, predatory sexuality, transvestism, incest and the anatomy of Sir Winston Churchill.

200 500 1000 $50 $25 $30 Scottsdale $40 $55 $80 Schwab 110 118 166 Quick Reilly 84 90 128 Fidelity 109 118 165 Olde 60 100 125 Waterhouse 53 70 138 Merrill Lynch 201 265 483 Disney reveals camp experience llie documentary series "Bug Juice" follows a group of young teens through a summer. Commissions shown are for verbal orders and are not dependent on account size or activity. $31.50 Minimum. Services may vary by firm. Survey 5196.

Scottsdale Securities, Inc. Discount Stockbrokers Gannett News Service 5 Cut to the boys. "There are 11 of us sharing a 20-by-20 space," a counselor advises them. "Our pet peeves can't get in the way. What are your pet peeves?" Total silence.

The counselor has to pry out, boy by boy, admissions that they even have them. There are other moments. Several 13- and 14-year-olds guiltily confess they don't mind leaving their parents in the summer. Campers can get "scared out of their minds" the first two weeks. Perhaps the biggest worry is that they won't make any friends.

In fact, the preoccupation with peers and peer pressure reminds the viewer that he's being made privy to the rationale behind the full experience at a quality summer camp it can serve as a good microcosmic preview of what some of life's adventures will be all about. ofthingsgoonthere. Given that summer camp comedies are such a staple, a viewer sometimes finds himself waiting for Rodney Dangerfield or Bill Murray to make an appearance in plaid Bermuda shorts. But this series is a documentary that, although it has its "cute" moments, also illuminates the adolescent condition. The first episode suggests that girls at this age ages run from 12 to 15 are more natural and less self-conscious about themselves.

"I get in a lot of trouble," confesses a girl in a meeting in which campers introduce themselves "I'm a doofus," says another. "I'm guy-happy," admits a third. Giggles all around. The Disney Channel series "Bug Juice," which sneak previews tonight at 7:30, and debuts Sunday at 4 p.m. with the first two episodes, is a documentary about some adolescent kids' experiences at a summer camp in Maine last year.

The title derives from an "incredibly sweet" beverage that's as much a part of the camp tradition as the camp's crazy name Waziyatah or the campfire discussions or the learning of how to make your own bed. If the opening episode is any indication, the documentary seems pleasantly designed for anyone who ever went to camp, sent a kid to camp, or wonders about what kinds Call for a Free Copy of "YOUR GUIDE TO COMMISSION SAVINGS" Member SIPC www.discountbroker.com South Park' Web life troubles network i fcannett News Service lar that everyone wants to participate," Lieberman says. "South Park" has realized the Holy Grail of the Internet: video on demand. Most TV images are complex, making digital transmission impractical. But the graphically simple "South Park" is perfect.

It may take 35 minutes to download a 15-minute clip, but that's OK for fans, some of whom might not have cable, and some of whom might have parents who won't let them watch. "Like my mom, she wouldn't let me watch at first," Austin says. Now his mother, Donna Heap, likes the show as well: "It's pretty hysterical, and it touches on a lot of things that people think but don't say." The fate of the sites lies with Comedy Central. Fans know: The sites are plastered with notes making clear creators know who owns the show. "If Comedy Central has a problem with it, I'm not trying to infringe.

Tell them if they want to give me a call, to go ahead," Austin says. Home delivery saves time money. 836-1122 or 1-800-695-2005 i if a': I 14 Austin Heap of Powell, Ohio, is fche perfect fan for the Comedy Central hit "South Park." He loves the jjhow, everyone at school sports Park" T-shirts, and his mom gave him a "South Park" birthday pard last month when he turned 14. Austin is also an Internet wizard. He and Matt Lennen, 15, of Myersville, run SouthPark Online, a Web site (www.new-wave.net) with discussions, news and digitized copies of fevery South Park episode, two of Much never aired.

Over the last month their site has averaged about 10,000 hits a day, and it's only one of hundreds of "South Park" sites out there. Many post full-video episodes for the taking. Which is a problem. Comedy Cental wants fans. It wants buzz.

It wants enthusiasm. But it doesn't want its shows being given away on the Web. "We own the copyright, and we've to protect it because if you don't protect it, you lose it," Comedy Central's Larry Lieberman says. Not strictly true, says Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA, popyright isn't lost by failure to protect, though marketing rights to i'Soufh Park" merchandise could be if fans were allowed to make a profit from selling such goods. The fan pages aren't meant to steal anything.

Fans just can't get enough. I Comedy Central understands that. "Imagine having something so popu- jjK.witjtawiMww"'! j. '1. I in 4 rnati I 1 'JfiK 1 5 1 1 i T2 i4k.l I Hap ft'ws is dotty ft v- toi'tk a SKi'U ukikt you.

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