Ondine

Ondine is a play about love, an intriguing, graceful exercise in joyous fantasy and at the same time an inevitable tragedy. Ondine herself, the form of pure love and unquestioning affection, is not real, and in the end she cannot exist in the real world. It tantilizes her, but it is alien.

Giraudoux created in Ondine a perfect young girl: fresh, vibrant, beautiful, spontaneous, loving. In her, as Maurice Valency has observed, "everything is possible and nothing ever happens."

Unfortunately, the same could almost be said for the Quincy House production of the play. Giraudoux, with his delicate nuances and extremely subtle text, taxes the most talented and careful actors. This play in particular, demands a great deal of skillful technical work as well as fine acting.

Director David Howe and his associates should not perhaps, be held responsible for technical deficiencies and the sloppiness that marred the first night undoubtedly will disappear during the run. But insufficient stage effects are not alone responsible for the lack of life that afflicts this Ondine.

At times the actors performed with as much expression and emotion as a forest of fine redwood trees. Tragic scenes were rushed into without preparation and with little sense of pace.

Pat Collinge, as Ondine, provided some of the finest moments of the evening, but was also responsible for some of the deadest. And throughout she lacked the freshness and innocence demanded by the part. Ondine, at least at the beginning of her story, is virginity and purity, and even after her marriage she is almost chaste, Miss Collinge seemed far too wordly, too lusty, too self-assured.

On the other hand, William Docken as her lover Hans was overly boyish in a part Giraudoux wrote to embody the tragic predicament of man. He didn't seem to realize why he loved Ondine and only at the very end of the evening, when he dies did he grasp the nature of his problem. Mr. Docken's limited supply of gestures proved to be a formidable handicap.

But not all was dark and dead. Mr. Docken and Miss Collinge were strong in their final despair and they occasionally exploited the rich humor of the text. The finest comic moments, however belonged to Michael Solomon, who as the judge of supernatural events is almost worth the price of the ticket. His timing is keen, his voice wonderfully flexible, and his facial expressions consistently alive and amusing. John Weiner has a brief but superbly played part.

Despite the vigor of Solomon and Weiner, and several fine contributions by Pennell Rock and William Hart in supporting roles, last night's performance was lethargic and occasionally listless. Ondine is a wonderful play however, and if director Howe can quicken his pace he will have a perfectly adequate production well worth seeing.