THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET Page 13Weekday Edition, October 10-12, 2006

By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet

Here, time stands still. There is only music, and the move-ment of children through space.

—Philip Glass

Three Steinways line up parallel to the apron of thestage at the Metro on Broadway, facing the podiumto the right. Onstage is a pair of iron-frame beds,

draped in magenta sheets, while a vertiginous flight of gold-orange steps leads up towards the flies, past a mezzanine toan aqua door.

These are the playing fields for The Game which broth-er and sister play in The Room, an autosuggestive andincestuous symbolic game that remakes the world theyescape, yet spreads like poison into their tiny coterie inthat world as they grow up.

Oakland Opera Theater’s production of Philip Glass’s

Les Enfants Terribles, after Jean Cocteau’s 1929 novel andlater play, with musical direction by Deirdre McClure andstage direction by Tom Dean, is reset in Saigon from Paris,which eliminates the ever-falling snow of the original andsuggests a colonial ambiance to the milieu and action.

Glass conceived the opera with ballets, and Oakland

Opera is collaborating with the dynamic dancer-choreogra-pher Danny Nguyen and his company, who provide the fan-tastic activity that surrounds and amplifies the dreams andperceptions of the little circle that feed off their own caprices.

Glass’ music, originally scored for three pianos, has analternately horizontal or vertical quality of attack, with therecurrent figures, the “suspended animation” (inMcClure’s words) of building, resolution, and buildingagain. But there’s something different, peculiarly enjoyableabout this piece in comparison to the composer’s excur-sions into setting libretti in Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian.

Densely melodic, following the quick exchanges of thesingers/characters (“cat and mouse,” in baritone Axel VanChee’s words; there are no duets, trios or ensemblesinging), the score deserves Glass’s preferred designationof “theater music,” and seems to be something particular-ly close to the composer’s heart, may be hearkening backto his days in Paris as student of Nadine Boulanger.

There are moments when the playing (excellently per-formed by Skye Atman, Paul Caccamo and KymryEsainko, with Daniel Lockert alternating) reminded theaudience of études, perfect for a tale of overextendedpubescence that starts with slingshots and a dirtclod(originally snowball) fight after school. It may alsoremind one of Glass’ story of submitting period stylisticexercises to Boulanger, who reprimanded Glass for “notcomposing in the way Mozart made music,” Glass thenrealizing his aesthetic or academic correctness was mere-ly the imitation of art.

That’s not the case here in this fluid but difficult work,melodic brightness counterpointed by a libretto of con-stant verbal battles. The company has found fine collabo-rators to essay the support and principal roles: Paul’sschoolboy friend Gerard (Ben Johns, alternating withJonathan Smucker), secretly in love with Elizabeth; CaryAnn Rosko as Agathe (and posed on the steps with a slingas Paul’s schoolboy crush, Dargelos); and as brother andsister, superb Axel Van Chee and fascinating, felineJoohee Choi extracting the maximum out of a doomedincestuous love that’s expressed by lolling on beds in duskylight through blinds or squabbling in front of their friends,even in the bathtub, as Gerard spies on them.

Cocteau, object of surrealist scorn, had a precise sense ofthe strange mix of tragedy and soap operatic melodramathat descended from Racine into modernism, through Vic-tor Hugo and Baudelaire. This production of “MonsieurJean’s” Les Enfants Terribles pushes that extreme dispari-ty of display and concealment to the limit, maybe reveal-

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

THEATER

“An Evening with Leonardoda Vinci” with Rob Weiner at 7p.m. at the JCC, 1414 WalnutSt. Cost is $10-$12. 848-0237.

FILM

The Mechanical Age “Human,All Too Human” at 5:30 p.m. atthe Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. ww.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

Strictly Speaking with PaulaPoundstone at 7 p.m. at ZellerbachHall, UCCampus. Tickets are $24-$46.642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu

Poetry Flash with Elline Lipkinand Lisa Sewell at 7:30 p.m. atBlack Oak Books. 486-0698.www.blackoakbooks.com

Poets for Peace with SusanRich, Robert Lipton and IlyaKaminsky at 7:30 p.m. at Pega-sus Books Downtown, 2349Shattuck Ave. 649-1320.

MUSIC AND DANCE

University Symphony Orches-

tra at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UCCampus. Tickets are $5-$15.642-4864. http://music.berke-ley.edu

California Bach Society “DieFamilie Bach” at 4 p.m. at St.Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300Bancroft Way. 415-262-0272.www.calbach.org

Bluegrass for the GreenbeltBenefit Concert with LaurieLewis, Tom Rozum and ToddPhillips, Eric and Suzy Thomp-son, The Backyard Party Boys at3 p.m. at Coventry Grove, inthe Kensington Hills. Tickets are$50-$65. 415-543-6771.www.BluegrassForTheGreen-belt.org

Vagabond Opera, theatricalmix of eclectic music, at 8 p.m.at La Pena Cultural Center. Tick-ets are $10-$12. 849-2568.

Rahim Al Haj, Iraqi oud mas-ter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Sal-vage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50.548-1761. www.freightandsal-vage.org

Na Leo Nahenahe HawaiianChorus at 4 p.m. at Lake Mer-ritt United Methodist Church,1330 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland.Tickets are $12-$15. Childrenunder 12 free.www.naleosf.com

Gift Horse at 11 a.m. atNomad Cafe, 6500 ShattuckAve. 595-5344. www.nomad-cafe.net

Tango Number 9 at 8 p.m. atAnna’s Jazz Island, 2120 AllstonWay. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.www.AnnasJazzIsland.com

Americana Unplugged: TheMercury Dimes at 5 p.m. atJupiter. 655-5715.

Stephanie Bruce at 4:30 atthe Jazzschool. Cost is $15.845-5373.www.jazzschool.com

Ziyia, traditional Greek music,at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz.Dance lesson at 7:30 p.m.525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com

MONDAY, OCT. 16

READINGS AND LECTURES

Soyhel Dahi and SharonDoubiago read at 7:30 p.m. atMoe’s Books, 2476 TelegraphAve. 849-2087.

Meg Tilly and K. E. Silva readfrom their new novels at 7:30p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com

Francine Prose introduces“Reading Like a Writer: A Guidefor People Who Love Books and

For Those Who Want to WriteThem” at 7 p.m. at Cody’sBooks on Fourth St. 559-9500.

Poetry Express with MarshaCampbell at 7 p.m. at PriyaRestaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com

MUSIC AND DANCE

The Kirov Orchestra of theMariinsky Theatre, withValery Gergiev, conductor andAlexander Toradze, piano, at 7p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UCCampus. Tickets are $38-$86.642-9988. www.calperfs.berke-ley.edu

Bil Staines at 8 p.m. at Freightand Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freigh-tandsalvage.org

Khalil Shaheed, all ages jam, at8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island,2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5.841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIs-land.com

Blue Monday Jam at 7:30p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub,1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Costis $5. 451-8100. www.uptown-nightclub.com

Marta Topfera at 8 p.m. atYoshi’s at Jack London Square.Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200.www.yoshis.com

ARTS CALENDAR

By JOE EATONSpecial to the Planet

Back at the dawn of Berkeley’s food revolution, before thefirst bit of artisan bread was dipped in extra-virgin olive oil, L.John Harris, a former Cheese Board collective member andwaiter at Chez Panisse, published The Book of Garlic.

He went on to found Aris Books in 1980, and to bringout a long list of single-subject cookbooks celebrating gin-ger, goat cheese, olives, peppers, mushrooms, calamari—40 titles in all. If you’re a serious cook, you probably havea couple on your own shelves.

This Sunday, Harris and Maggie Blyth Klein, co-ownerof Oliveto in Oakland’s Rockridge district, will host anAris Books Author Reunion, Feast, and Cookbook Auc-tion at Klein’s celebrated restaurant. It’s a benefit for theBerkeley Food and Housing Project, kicking off theirannual “We Give Thanks Month” in which local restau-rants dedicate some of their proceeds to the 35-year-oldnonprofit’s seven homeless assistance programs.

Harris and Klein promise delicious food from Oliveto’schef Paul Canales, inspired by some of the Aris cook-books, plus a silent auction and a drawing for “a wonder-ful and unusual culinary adventure.” A dozen or so Arisauthors will be on hand: Klein herself (Feast of the Olive),Georgeanne Brennan (New American Vegetable Cook-book), Isaac Cronin (California Seafood Cookbook, Inter-national Squid Cookbook), Michele Jordan (Good Cook’sBook of Mustard, Cook’s Tour of Sonoma), Jim Burns(Women Chefs), Linda Burum (Asian Pasta) and Jay Har-low (The Grilling Book).

“When, in 1981, Harris asked me, then an editor at CalBerkeley, to write a cookbook about olives and olive oil,neither of us knew that the project would change thecourse of my and my TV-producer husband Bob’s lives,”says Klein. Their research for Feast of the Olive involvedimmersion in Tuscan cuisine and culture and inspired themto open their own restaurant. Oliveto will turn 20 this

December.Many of the other participating authors are still very

much engaged with food. Brennan is practically a one-woman cookbook industry, whose other projects include acooking school in Provence, gardening books, and the BonMarché line of seeds. Cronin runs a public relations com-pany representing specialty food accounts. Jordan has afood-related radio program in Sebastopol. Other Arisalumni are now food critics, artisanal food makers, spe-cialty farmers, or restaurateurs.

The Aris output also included books by MFK Fisher andBruce Cost. What was special about them? “We featuredunusual single subjects,” Harris recalls. “And they weremore sophisticated subjects: olive oil, ginger, squid, garlic.They were more of a reading experience than standardcookbooks. We were like armchair travel books: you couldget pleasure reading about food.”

Some, like Klein’s Feast of the Olive and Cost’s GingerEast to West, were enormously influential. “Feast of theOlive launched the whole thing of tasting extra-virgin oliveoil”, says Harris. “The Grilling Book was the first book tofeature mesquite grilling.”

Harris, now a filmmaker (his documentary, DivineFood: 100 Years in the Kosher Delicatessen Trade, hasappeared on PBS), sold Aris in 1991. But he held on to hisinventory, and it occurred to him that the books could beused to help the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. Hehad worked with the group before, making connectionswith restaurants that now participate in the “We GiveThanks” program. Berkeley Food and Housing ExecutiveDirector Terrie Light was delighted with the reunion idea,and Maggie Klein agreed to provide a venue for the event.

How often do you have a chance to meet culinarycelebrities, taste extraordinary Mediterranean food, andassist a worthy local cause?

Tickets ($100) are available through Oliveto; call 547-5356.

Oliveto Hosts Aris Books’ Author Reunion

Oakland Opera’s ‘Enfants Terribles’ LES ENFANTS TERRIBLESFridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 22 at the Oak-land Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. $32-$36www.oaklandopera.org.

Continued on Page Seventeen

Continued from Page Twelve

THE BERKELEY DAILY PLANET

GET FUZZY Darby Conley

SYLVIA Nicole Hollander

Page 17Weekday Edition, October 10-12, 2006

STYMIED Peter Conrad

ing some conceptual problems inGlass’s otherwise excellent visionof the work.

Nguyen and his dancers, espe-cially Sarah Pun-Richardson (whodoubles Elizabeth, alternating withTara Macken and Emily Mizuno)and Peggy De Coursey (in hermannequin death throes as TheMother)—and Nguyen himself,strange Angel of Death and shadeof colonial war—are admirable intheir sometimes-manic activity, butsometimes it’s too much andobscures the principals, whose realaction is admittedly internalized,but isn’t that what modern opera’sgood at representing, especially forCocteau’s cultish brother and sis-ter?

This goes for the narration too,which (taken from the novel)

worked well on the film soundtrackin Cocteau’s ongoing elegant tones.But Larry Rekow’s voice can’talways cut the wall of music and isfrequently flat in his handling of thetranslated poetic passages from theoriginal book. These seem to be,again, cases of the composer notcutting back on the adapted mater-ial to allow the unspoken (unsung,unstaged) elements space to grow,like the shadow from The Game(and, presumably in this interpreta-tion, the rising tide of war) thatengulfs the lives of its players andtheir spectators. The choreograph-er, dancers and narrator deservepraise for their participation in anexciting production—so typical ofthis remarkable company-on-ashoestring—as do the designers:Rob Anderson, lights; GarrettLowe, set: Margaret Lawrence, cos-tumes; and Asa Hoyt, credited for“The Theatre of the Two Beds,” asCocteau described them.

‘Les Enfants’Continued from Page Thirteen

Retired UC Berkeley administra-tor and DAPAC member DorothyWalker, who has said that she favorstaller buildings at some locations,saidthe group should be focusing onwhere the taller structures should rise.

Taecker said the existing down-town plan favors “more of a low-risescheme” in its call for preserving thescale and historic character of theexisting area.

While some members criticizedcity staff for offering variations thatincluded more high-rises,particularlyin the area surrounding the BART

station, Travis said. “This is not staffsetting the agenda.This is staff givingus back what we said.”

Lisa Stephens said she favored afive-story limit along Shattuck, whileHawley said that the downtowncould handle “quite stunning build-ings that are tall.”

Patti Dacey said that cheaperbuilding materials used because ofskyrocketing building costs meantthat new buildings wouldn’t be firstrate or be built by first-rate architects.She cited a PG&E energy expert’sreport stating that five-story build-ings were the most energy-efficient.

By the end of the session no con-sensus had been reached,leaving thediscussion open for renewal earlynext year.

Citizen PlannersContinued from Page Two

use every kind of communicationto answer people’s questions.However it still remains to beseen how successful a campaignmethod this turns out to be.”

Overman, registered as a UCBerkeley student with Facebook,created the group “Elect Cal Stu-dent Jason Overman to BerkeleyCity Council” two months ago.His site claims 374 members con-sisting of students from UCBerkeley, Stanford, University ofPennsylvania and several otheruniversities.

“Eighteen- to 25-year-oldshave the lowest voter turnout inthe country,” Overman said.“Since Facebook has an electionsection now, I think it’s a greatway of letting them know thattheir vote is important.”

Overman added that althoughcommunity members often feelthat UC Berkeley students do notfeel invested in the local commu-nity, this was not the case.

“Maybe they don’t have timeto attend city hall meetings, butthat’s another reason why weneed to reach out to them moreoften,” he said. “I get messagesfrom students on Facebook whowant to talk about crime andaffordable housing. UCB studentsare one of the most vulnerablegroups in case of an earthquake inBerkeley. They want to knowmore about disaster prepared-ness. We haven’t heard abouttheir concerns before becausethey were never given an outletfor them. Facebook is helping tobridge that gap between studentsand the local residents. How canwe have a local election and leaveout students who form one of themost important sections of ourcommunity?”

Anna Thongthap is one of theUC Berkeley students who joinedJason Overman’s Facebook group.Students care about Berkeley

neighborhood issues, she said.“We have a major investment in

what goes on in local politics, butwe don’t always know how tomake a difference,” Thongthapsaid.“When campaigns target vot-ers, they often write off our gener-ation as not worth their effort. Weare seen as a generation that does-n’t vote. But we vote when we aregiven a reason to, and believe me,I am voting this year.”

Alan Lightfeldt, a politicaleconomy of industrial societiesmajor at UC Berkeley, has indi-cated his support for District 7candidate Beier on Facebook.

“I joined the group because Iknow George and I have support-ed him all along,” he said. “I wantto show people where I stand.”

There are others, like UC Berke-ley freshman Elizabeth Hopper,who are skeptical about Facebookas a vehicle for political action.

“The campaigns that are upthere haven’t changed my mindabout whom I want to supportbecause there’s not enough infor-mation about the candidates andtheir policies,” she said.

According to Beier, studentsstarted joining his group after stu-dent group meetings organized bythe ASUC and others.

“It’s a more environment-friend-ly and cost-effective way of cam-paigning,” he said. “The bad thingabout Facebook is if I spend moretime on it, it takes away time fromthe other parts of my campaign.”

Worthington, who said he hashelped more students getappointed and elected to citypositions than any other Berkeleycouncilmember, said that studentshave contributed immenselytowards his campaign this year,and his Facebook site is an exten-sion of that effort.

“It’s their ideas I look forwardto hearing,” he said.“The enthusi-asm they are bringing to my cam-paign is just amazing. Gettingyoung people involved is one ofthe first steps towards creating abetter community.”

FacebookContinued from Page One