1970 School Magazine

Originol Coyrtuilwtioms

J{oi, 4 P[,uK"*.* What is "Hair" , the Ameri can Tribal-Love Rock musical that is talked about so much? It is ^fi experience of a life time. It is life. It is love. It is you. It is rlte. Hair, a magnificent combination of theme, superb presentation and depth of meaning, decries society, war and hatred, parent's control of children, inhibitions and re- smictions placed on people "who only want to be themselves". It is presented, not in the violent manner of a rebellious youth lashing out, but in the gentle but equally forceful chiding of a loving parent. It shocks, but by love not hate. I went to "Hair" prepared perhaps for a series of disjoined songs and dances. My wildest expectations were surpassed. "Hait" is a mass of carefully interwoven but freely flowing themes. The message of the play is love. There is an ever present emphasis on the Age of Aquarius, a myth- ical age in which people live in the harmony of truth, love and peace. The essence of the plot is the internal conflict of Claude, who, like Hamlet, cannot come to terms with the role in which he is cast. The tribe sees him as a dra{t- card burning, huppy hippy, but unlike the tribe, who live for today, Claude has glimpses of the future and knows that life cannot alaways be the idyllic, idealistic life the tribe leads. First burn- ing his driver's licence then his library card, he cannot find it in himself to utterly divorce future from present. All through the play he is trying to find himself till suddenly he realizes aII he wants to do is be invisible, to perform miracles, to love and to give. This is a facet of. the pervad- ing theme of his fixation on Jesus Christ. To support the plot we have the usual complicated love events; Jeanie, pregnant to a "speed head", is hung up on Claude, who is hung up on Sheila, who is hung up on Burger ( egg or ham ) who is in turn hung up on Donna, a sixteen year old virgin and non-member of the tribe. The peace theme is established from the start with the stage being a circle inscribed with the peace symbol, @ ; the singing of the Ag. of Aquarius and the actors distributing flowers among the audience. Throughout the whole performance, not once do the actors stop moving with a lithe supple grace, and superb muscular control is exhibited by one of the cast who comes down bv a rope from the roof. The singing and the words are exmemely moving and wrought with emotion. Our hearts are wrung as Shiela sings "Easy to be hard" to the unresponsive Burger. The whole cast ate extremely talented actors, singers and dancers. Lighting effects ate used to their fullest extent. In one scene,

symbolic of wat, ure ate hurled to ^ crescendo bv flashing smobe lights and pounding music. Just as we are at breaking point and every fibre of our bodies is filled with mental and physical agony we ate plunged into silence. Our souls flow into this soothing manquility. After this homifying revelation of man's nature it is with cynicism we hear a chanting of "\fhat a piece of work is a man". In Burger's words "Oh Shakespeare be realistic". Scenes like this occur throughout the play where we are carried to point, only just bearable, then we are permitted to grasp our reeling senses again. The performance is shot with humour, agony, joy, noble ideals and crudities. The latter, I m^y add, lose all offence as they ^re told in a light hearted, joking manner between members of the tribe. There is no other way to describe the nude scene, than beautiful. It is not an obscene display of naked- ness but a natural gathering of free, beautiful bodies. Hair is fraught with meaning so vitally relevant today. It is a spontaneous cry from agonized souls and is not to be ignored. Perhaps is is unrealistic in its idealism, the hopeful desire that this age of violence and hatred is the age that is the drawing of the Age of Aquarius. Hair is a beautiful happening, it is more than a play it is an extension of life, a projection of the self . That people could find anything obscene in Hair saddens and sickens me for they have left their ideals bv the road to blast into oblivion in an ttatomic orgasm". - DINAH PRIESTLEY (VIB)

- cEcrLY GREAVES (VIB)

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