Times Colonist from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • 48

Arts Editor: Liz Pogue 380-5373 Times Colonist Sunday, February 15, 1998 AIT Vegetables The root of good PyTL iTKit Music Replays Every day is the -py-j anniversary of L)J something important health in your lWfv'i your Dave Barry takes a leaf from Miss Manners' Do book of manners Television Check Valerie Stetson's TV tips D2 kitchen FAMILY FARE REVIEW UVic students do honest job with modernized Hamlet VSLLMO.TO': What: Hamlet Where: Phoenix Theatre, University ofVictoria When: To Feb. 28 nounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue, etc." All this literally sets the stage for what follows: an unpretentious, honest student production that achieves the modest goals it has set up for itself. UVic's Hamlet has been trimmed from four-plus hour to a lean three. It's a modern dress production. Queen Gertrude, for instance, wears a red blazer and riding boots.

Jason Mitchell plays the title role with the forthrightness that distinguishes the overall tone of this production. His Hamlet is no precious neurotic, singing the verse in a self-consciously poetic manner. Typically, during Friday's performance, Mitchell's interpretation of theatre's most famous setpiece, 'To be or not to be," was not so much rhapsodic as uncomplicated and honestly perplexed. Much hard work has gone into this portrayal, and it shows; it is a commendable and earnest effort that the poetry of the language was often diminished. And, not surprisingly, the student cast rarely achieves the complexity of characterization that can make Shakespeare such a rich and rewarding experience.

On the other hand, the actors are successful in making Hamlet accessible and clear. This is no small thing. I've seen much more ambitious Shakespeare productions that in their quest for "greatness" are practically incomprehensible. UVic's Hamlet would be a valuable introduction for those unfamiliar with the play. The two-level set with a large proscenium arch and unpainted wooden panels and grids suggests a view of a backstage.

This fits in with the notion, stated in the prologue, that the show is a "rehearsal" the idea being that the performance is intended to reflect a certain unruly energy and rough-around-the-edges quality. Michelle Monteith makes a convincing mad Ophelia, padding around in bare feet wearing a only bedraggled sweater. We get a strong sense of a once-sound mind rudely rattled from its bearings. Monteith sidestepped the temptation to ham it up, instead successfully conveying the poetry and poignancy of her condition. Faculty member John Krich plays Polonius as well-meaning and lovable.

It was a solid performance, as was Paul Donison's as Laertes. Donison perhaps more than another other actor here has made the character his own with a focused, thoughtful interpretation. There was a wonderful fleeting moment when Laertes, having learned of Ophelia's death, was struck almost dumb with pain. Other key roles Mairi Babb as Gertrude, Leslie D. Bland as Claudius are competently handled.

It is true perhaps as a result of this no-nonsense, even austere, approach By Adrian Chamberlain Times Colonist Staff George Bernard Shaw once remarked on the "momentousness" of Hamlet in literary history. And it's true both the role and play are weighted down with generations of tradition. Just think of all the titans of theatre who have previously played the Dane: Olivier, Gielgud, Burton and so on. This is all well and good but it's rather a pain for any newcomer hoping to have a crack at the great tragedy. It is, after all, just a play although admittedly rather a good one.

The University of Victoria's theatre department is.now staging Shakespeare's greatest hit. The director, faculty member Giles Hogya, is well aware Hamlet is especially intimidating to a student cast. With that in mind, he's attempted to chip off years of intimidating crust that can potentially suffocate the play. His approach is made clear in an added-on prologue. The action begins with the cast strolling about the stage doing warm-up body and voice exercises.

Finally, a "director" (played by Richard Stille) exhorts the players to focus on clarity of diction, meaning and motivation. One can assume this is faithful to Shakespeare's own intent. And Hogya implicitly reminds us of this by having Stille quote from Hamlet's famous speech to his own players: "Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pro Tinyfo iks fantasy looks realistic i A -A ifi'y tv i Cfc 1 By John McKay The Canadian Press TORONTO From The Incredible Shrinking Man to Gulliver's Travels, the movies have long had a fondness for little people. Now in this age of impeccable computer-generated special effects comes The Borrowers, a British family fantasy about pint-sized folk who live inside the walls of our homes undetected by their gigantic human hosts. (Now playing in Victoria at the Odeon.) "People like them.

They're very attractive, the idea that there are these nice, tiny, benign folk living under the floorboards," says British actor Jim Broadbent (Time Bandits, Brazil), who plays Pod Clock, the patriarch of this film's mischievous but lovable Borrower family. "It gives us a different view of the world. You see it all from a different perspective, literally topsy turvy." The Borrowers is based on the 1950s children's books by Mary Norton (Bed-knobs and Broomsticks). They are so called because of their penchant for stealthily swiping all those little objects, from pens to matchbooks, that tend to go missing around the average household. In their tiny dens, these four-inch-high redheads (sort of micro-leprechauns) make efficient use of borrowed human things.

Postage stamps become wall posters, walnut shells are helmets, and so on. To realize this, director Peter Hewitt and his Shepperton Studios design team called on all the classic filmmaker's tricks, from optical matte effects to simply building giant sets and props. Added, though, were some computerized FIX that lend a never-before-seen realism to the little people's world. And yet all the tricks do not detract from the storyline, even for the stars. Broadbent (no relation to Ed, former Canadian politician) says he's seen the finished film three times now.

"The third time, you (usually) start worrying about what you did. But the third time I just sat there and really enjoyed it, got quite excited." Broadbent's American co-star John Goodman, agrees. "What's so weird about it, I've seen the movie twice now and I keep meaning to look at stuff, but I get caught up in the story!" Also fascinating is the film's Terry Gilliam-esque look. Shot with a strong color palette (no blues or whites) that says 1 950s even though it is modem day, it also mixes American and British props for a unique mid-Atlantic ambiance. CANADIAN PRESS John Goodman, in a scene from his latest movie, The Borrowers.

It's based on children's books about tiny folk who live among giant humans. IMUTIAE Some facts about The Borrowers, which is playing at the Odeon. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Canada presentation of a Working Title Films Production. Walt deFaria, executive producer. Directed by: Peter Hewitt (Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.Tom and Huck).

Starring: John Goodman, Jim Broadbent, Celia Imrie, Mark Williams, Bradley Pierce, Flora Newbigin. Based books by Mary i Norton written between the 1950s sand 1980s. Plot family of little people, known as borrowers, lives in the walls and under the floorboards of a home.They must work with their gigantic human hosts to prevent the building's imminent demolition. Previous Hallmark Hall of FameTV production Christmas 1 972. Also two series of six half-hour BBC shows in the 1 990s, starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton.

Quote: "Virtually any other film that has dealt with little people has been about somebody or something made little and trying to get big again. The fundamental difference in our story is that we are seeing the movie through their own special culture." producer Tim Bevan "It looked like England if Germany had won the war," muses Goodman about the zeppelins in the sky and the fascist-looking police uniforms. The bulky former co-star of TV's Roseanne was imported to play Ocious Potter, a classic, over-the-top, moustache -twirler of the Snidely Whiplash school of villainy. Potter wants to foreclose on the Lender family's home, tear it down and build a highrise of luxury apartments. But to do so he has to evict not only the Lenders, but the Borrowers, too.

The Borrowers must reveal themselves and team up with the big people with whom they cohabit in order to save their home. Broadbent says Potter, bent on exterminating "the little scavengers," is not only mean, but stupid. "He didn't realize that if he had cap tured these little people he could have made more money out of them than his building project." Goodman says he had a ball shooting in London, even if his character was, among other humiliations, forked, electrocuted and bitten. "He deserved it," Goodman says with a laugh. But "getting cheesed" was the most painful experience, he says, describing a scene in which he wore a harness to get dunked into a giant vat of dairy cheese.

"They ran a cable up my leg and around my waist so they could yank me down the cheese chute. This sniff's ice cold, and the chain wound up somewhere where it really shouldn't have been! And oh boy, that smarts!" The film is already a hit in England where it opened over Christmas. One entry per person Name: Phone: day evening Contest closes February 17, 5 p.m. Winners will be contacted by phone, Thursday, Feb. 18.

You may fax your entry to 380-5301, but be sure to photocopy first to ensure readability. Mail or drop your entry off at the: 2621 Douglas Street, Victoria, 380-521 1 Times Colonist I KTTM IVfJNDNr LOW HtKWft Open Monday-Friday,.