Evening star., 1953-02-21

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performers. What evolves on
the stage of Lisner Auditorium.
where the third and final per-
formance of the play will be
given tonight, is barely more
than a shadow of the tension
and terror implicit in Kafka'S
novel.
Partial blame for this may be
attributed, also, to the Matthews
dramatization which attempts to
remodel Kalka's savage indict-
ment of modern man into play
form. This is a challenging task
which has been accepted by
others, among them Andre Glide,
and the playwright who fails at
it is left with the consolation
that he is at least a man of
mettle.
This Is true also Of William
Callahan who directed and plays
the leading character in "The
Scapegoat." He at least has
given the curious a chance to
see the much discussed, elusive
dramatization on a stage.
What it fails to do is much,
IN this fussy and distracting pro-
duction, but it nevertheless hints
Of the scope of Kafka's study of
crime and guilt in contemporary
society. The idea of "The
Scapegoat" is huge and terrify-
ing and well beyond the ad-
venturous spirit of most play
wrights.
It is related in the experience
Of Joseph K, a rising bank clerk
whose address is Civilization.
K. is living a private life, harm
lesSly to every appearance, when
he is arrested one morning in his
bed. Arrested for what? His
accuSers, representing the court
OF special jurisdiction, do not tell
him. They never do tell him.
Instead they attempt to break
him mentally and physically
until he confesses-apparently
anything.
K. however is a man of spirit.
At first, he sees his plight as a
bad joke but as the torture in
creaseS, he gradually perceives
himself at the mercy of a hid
eouS, merciless force let loose
in the world by the nature of
man.
At the end, K. does confess
his imponderable guilt in having
stood by while mindless, moral
less force took over his presum-
ably personal and serene world.
He recognizes that he has been
guilty of the crime of being a
human who offered no resistance
to inhuman evil, war, totalita-
rian tyranny, etc.
"The crimes I permitted" he
tells his executioners, you COM
mitted."
Callahan and his associates in
'The Scapegoat" get little of the
help that is the amateurs due.
They are not playing charac-
tiers, but symbols. Large, cloudy,
and mysteriously terrifying SYM
bols. Callahan's K. is the dom
inant one of these vaporous
creatures. the guilty passive
modern man.
There is force in Callahan as
an actor. He gave two Of Cath
olic University's most potent
performers as Othello and Oedi-
pus. His strength availS him too
little here in a company that
provides less support than he
has had before.
Next most exacting role in
"The Scapegoat" is that of the
symbolically loving and loyal
woman who is ks secretary.
Elizabeth Riemer is far too in
experienced to give it more than
a surface in this production, as
indeed might many a profess
Sional.
Next to Callahan's own, the
best performance in 1.-THE Scape-
goat" is that Of Derek Lawford
as the crafty halfwit, Walter C.
Oracle.
Donald C. Kline designed the
stark settings of '"The Scape-
goat" which clutch lightly at the
macabre essence of the play.
y
WEEK END SUMMARY: Prob
ably the largest single element of
THE Scapegoat's" opening night
audience was from Catholic Uni