Word: masterful
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...effects out of the relation between Characters and Actors. He is an expert in gimmickry--indeed, the whole play is really a gimmick, a shell game with reality as the pea. Since he is only a clever intellectual prestidigitator, Pirandello may not deserve his exalted reputation as a dramatic master. But he is a strikingly individual play-wright, and in his way a brilliant one. Repertory Boston does right by him and us; it is up to us to do right by Repertory Boston. So go and see their production of Six Characters, if you have any taste for theatrical...
...that the Masters have experimented with their Ford grants--purchasing everything from sherry and seminar rooms to tape recorders and jazz concerts--it is time to count up the wins and losses. An annual allowance of $2500 to each Master leaves little rom for fumbles. Unfortunately, these scarce funds have paid for such capital improvements as House seminar rooms, and in one House such a project consumed half the grant for two successive years. In general, the Ford money should not be invested in brick and mortar...
Many Houses are using the money largely to attract "big name" visitors to their guest suites. But, to import a celebrity is expensive (he receives transportation costs plus a generous "honorarium," seldom refused). As Master Perkins explained, a House can easily spend 15 per cent of its yearly allowance on a single short-term visitor. Furthermore, celebrities are busy men, usually unable to remain in Cambridge more than a few days. Contact with students may be limited to shaking hands, trading pleasantries over sherry glasses, and a speech. It is never enlightening to hear a man--however great--repeat what...
...other hand, a certain type of House guest, though not initially so appealing, has proved highly desirable. Master Brower calls them "informal teachers"--people in all fields who thrive on close contact with students, and who can stay in the House longer than seventy-two hours...
There are humorous moments, too, but unlike Hollywood's contrived chuckles, they grow out of life-as-it-is. Little Apu watches his school-master peddle rice while drilling the quiet students; he is fascinated by a cacophonous brass band that marches through the village; he sits goggle-eyed when a travelling troupe provides "culture" at the local theatre...