Westchester's Most Influential Weekly - WestchesterGuardian.com

The Westchester Guardian THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2010Page 3HEZITORIALThat Which Was Said Has Been IntolerableContinued from page 2issue as it came to light. Mayor Amiconechose not to contend with anything thatmay have been construed as derogatory tohis administration.The WikiLeaks episode has exposeddisgust of those dismissed by an allpowerful, power elite who dismiss ThePeople despite the U.S. Constitutionaffording The People “inalienable rights.”Yonkers has alluded to GeorgeOrwell’s 1984 concepts becoming partof our reality. There are no longer “free”EYE ONmen and women within Yonkers border.There are only those with power andthose without.I am pessimistic about a goodoutcome.Yonkersites have been weaned on acity notorious for telling its public thenews its leaders wanted to tell - and for thecontempt with which the public treatedsuch news. Yonkers Mayor Amiconeshould be the last leader to threaten tohang the honest messenger.THEATRERosmersholm, Haunted,and That Time of the YearBy John SimonRosmersholmJohannes Rosmer, from an ancientaristocratic family at the titularRosmersholm (House of Rosmer), hasinnocently fallen for Rebecca West, theradical firebrand his wife, Beate, haspicked for housekeeper. It now seems thatRebecca may have, consciously or not,driven Beate to suicide by drowning.Norway has recently turned froma conservative monarchy to a liberaldemocracy, and the two parties are at eachother’s throats. Rosmer has somehow losthis faith and resigned his ministry, butwithout the cloth he is of no use eitherto his brother-in-law, the headmaster Dr.Kroll, leader of the ultraconservatives,or to the shady, opportunistic newspapereditor, the unprincipled liberalMortensgaard.Ibsen balances two guilt feelingsoppressing Rosmer. Was his pure affectionfor Rebecca, widely mistaken foradultery, still somehow his fault? Is hisloss of faith and withdrawal from politicsalso a moral failure?Ibsen himself, a recent convert alreadydisgusted by the liberals, is in many waysthe Rosmer who proclaims, “Nobodysurvives long without peace of mind.” Butis there salvation in political engagement?“A slogan for every base thought—thatis the key for success in politics.” WhenRosmer and Rebecca finally acknowledgetheir love, it is what dooms them.Elinor Redfield has stagedRosmersholm effectively. Most of it ispolitical or moral debate in the parlor, butto prevent it from becoming mere talkingheads, she has her characters in constantmotion, literally embodying conflict inmovement, posture, and occasional frozenstasis, along with powerful changes oftempo and dynamics.Bradford Cover is a large, foursquareRosmer, which makes his headstrongnessbelievable; but he also lets protrudeContinued on page 4