\ .

. ,-. i c _

lord)of ;.('

‘ /

As a change from

I the halferate books that I

have been reviewed of‘ ,late I have decided to to take a look at that has to be Egg epic ofv the twentieth century, J.R.R. Tolkien' s tri- logy-with—prelude, The Lord of the Ring . (As a side note regarding half-rate books, I am amazed at the reaction- of the student bOdy to the Harlequin Romance, .The Guarded Gates. Com— ments ranged from "that was a satire, wasn't it“ to "how come you praised that?". One personeven wanted to know where she could buy it!) ‘ ' But at any rate,to return to The Lord of the Rings, forgsheer br— eadth of imagination it ;cannot be equalled. No writer that I know of

Izzurdfioate Show ~i-h'The Red Island Read Review With A Twist

Can a grbup of local

talent working with no budget, a minimum of sets and rehersal, and lacking much solid direction, plan and perform a three ‘hOur benifit concert that is both a box office & an artistic success? - ~ All things.consider-.

ed the answer is, surpris- ingly'enough, an emphatic YES.

0n the evening of~ February 2 nearly one thousand people joined together at the Confed- eration Centre for what is sure to be termed the greatest Red Island Road Revue ever: The Izzurd Goate Show.

The Red Island Road Revue has in the past been

the Rings-1800‘ Pages and Still

-has been able to create an entire world and pro— vide it with a four th— ousand—year history, let alone introduce it skil-

lfully enough that the reader is not overwhelm-

.ed by it. One has to go sback to the works of Ho-, mer (such as Ulysses) to find a comparable effort. ‘He begins with a small— hole in the ground and one hobbit (small crea— tures much like rabbits except that they are in- telligent and stand up- right) and gradually spreads your horizons until you suddenlly re— valize that you have been introduced to an entire continent complete with‘ ,at least six intelligent species (the actual num- ber dependszon your dee finition of intellent), eaCh with its own sub—

-asically a straight con- cert but took a different turn.this year when, in the hands of the Island's well known apocalyptic 'buffoon, Reverend Izzurd Goate, it was built a— round the "All the world‘s a stage" speech from Shake-

' speare's "As You Like It".

:_, The show was well conceived but the quality 'was somewhat irregular.

_ With a few pleasant excep— tions the theatrical frame— work was weak.. The excep— tions were the-mime and dancing of John Giler, Erskine Smith and Blaine Vany, and with some re— servations, the death & resurrectiOn scenes._ Deserving honorable men— tion was_Izzurd Goate's

i

The Cadre, Tuesday. February J], 1975, page 1]

Too Short

groups and history. By the end pf the book you have the feeling that you have always known Middle Earth. Despite having read the series for the first time only

'two years ago I cannot

picture a time when it was not a partjof my View»of reality. I was filled with an overpower:

-ing desire to know more;

in the best sense to re- turn: Indeed letters to

the author of this 1800- page work have consist—

ently voiced one compl—

aint - it is too shért!

In a novel where the setting recieves such

\heavy treatment it might\

be expected that the plot and characters get short} shrift. But no. The char— acters are true to life, human with both faults and strenghts. The only ones which are stereo- typic such as Mithradir, the wizard, appear to be

‘ that way by design. This

image fits the story best.) Likewise the action moves well with few slow points. Indeed virtually the on-

ly dull spot is the sec— ond chapter of the first book where it reads more like a history text. But

rendition of The Slithery Dee. a In spite of some ob-

committed were more than atoned for by some of the

ever witnessed by a Char- lottetown audience. The featured groups were Take

,a rock band,.and the Rock Island Line. Take Ten and Taquila

"both gave excellent ef-

forts, but played a little

too long. However the audienca could not get enough of the Rock Island Line. This group, com— prised of eight local

and primarily single -entertainers who banded together soley for the evenings performance, N

left many people wishing

it was a permanent fixture in the Charlottetown area.

Of the solitary per- formers, Laurel Smythe & Sharon Duffy would have, in this case, been better seen and not heard, but Bonnie LeClair was easily the high point of the ev-

vious weak links, any sins

’finest musical performances

Ten, a jazz band, Taquila,

the chapter is not nec- essary and can be skipped by all but those who (fie ke myself) have been bit? ten by hobbit mania. Despite the fact that it can be read and enjoy—

,ed without any‘consid-

eration of the deeper questions thatyit raises (it makes a much better children's story than that old mis-used favor— ite Alice in Wonderland) it applies itself to vir— tually anything — from the nature of gdod and

'evil to insights on human

nature to the concept of "just wars" to the mech— anics df a (true!) com- munist state. ~ Of all the books I have reviewed (and virt— uarly.all I have read) this is the only one I can find no fault. If I can say it without soun— ding cliche The Lord of ,the Rings is simply in— credible. I can fairly‘

'say that it is a "must"to ,‘read”.

_ P.S.sThis will be the last book review I'll be doing this year so good— bve.(no tears please).

ening. This lady's cont— ribution, both within the Rock Island Line and by herself should have con— ' firmed once and for all that she is not just a singer but a very prof- essional entertainer.

The calibre of the show would~have been greatly improved by re—- moving about thirty minutes of the weaker acts. As a result it would not have been so tiring and thev ‘ quality higher. '

The third annual Red }Island Road Review was a threefold benifit concert. It benefited the very en- lthusiastic and exhausted *audience, and it also gave ‘Island entertainers another opportunity to reiterate to audiences and promoters alike that Prince Edward Island, if not yet, may one day be a musical Mecca.

If you missed this ‘show you may get a repr— a ive. It is rumored that there'll be a "Second Coming" at Easter, and if there is you are well ad- vised to_be there.

Michael Jardine