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| Gregs Antonacci, Cliff De Young, Dan Leach. (Photos: Martha Swope.) |
THE TRIALS OF OZ [Drama/Australian/Law/Sex] A: Geoff Robertson; D: Jim Sharman; S: Mark Ravitz; C: Joseph G. Aulisi; L: Jules Fisher; M: Buzzy Linhart, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono; P: Richard Scanga and the Friends of Van Wolf Productions; T: Anderson Theatre (OB); 12/19/72-12/31/72 (15)
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| Dallas Alinder. |
A documentary-type
drama, by an Australian lawyer, based on the Old Bailey transcripts of a 1971
London trial. In it the editors of an Australian underground magazine called OZ
were accused of publishing obscenity in a special “school kids” issue they had
permitted teenage boys to compose. The issue was crammed with sexual writing
and cartoons. Clive Barnes wrote that “It had articles on schoolmasters beating
pupils—with some conjecture on their motives—and a strip featuring an unusually
rampant Rupert the Bear—an English cartoon character that is said to be beloved
of children and does have a certain following with the under two‐year‐old set.”
The editors, Richard Neville (Cliff De Young), James Anderson (Dan Leach), and
Felix Dennis (Greg Antonacci), went to jail, although they were freed later on appeal.
Ten songs by popular
rock stars—Buzzy Linhart, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger—were interpolated
to provide relief from the legal proceedings.
The author sought to reveal the idiocy of the legal system’s attempts at regulating community standards and morals. He failed, however, to significantly dramatize his material, his presentation was too one-sided in favor of the defense, and the performances of the defendants were too “self-congratulatory” and “sanctimonious,” in Walter Kerr’s opinion. The play did succeed, though, in revealing the ridiculousness of the comments offered during the proceedings. As Barnes observed, “What fools people can make of themselves in public—even at the Old Bailey. And the spectacle of blind British justice grinding down on these orphan foul‐mouths is sad and ludicrous.” An eloquent speech on behalf of love, delivered by De Young as Richard Neville, was a highlight.
The cast included Myra Carter, Alek Primrose, Richard Clark, Leata Galloway, Dallas Alinder, and William Roerick, among others.
Harold Clurman summed
up the general reaction when he found The Trials of OZ both “interesting and boring.”
Next up: Tricks.
