Siobhan to perform ‘pumped up punk rock power pop’
“The Price is Right” host Bob Barker encourages viewers to spay and neuter their pets. So does Siobhan. Former Blondie-infatuated riot grrrl Siobhan DuVall is playing Sunday at John Henry’s.
DuVall’s rock life began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1989 when, after being influenced by Blondie, the Ramones and California hardcore, she formed an all-girl band, the Bombshells. The Bombshells opened for the ’90s legends Nirvana, Sublime and the Goo Goo Dolls.
Now touring under her own name, DuVall is sponsored by Mission Snowboards and has appeared at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival. DuVall has just released her first full-length album, “Star.” The album, produced by Vince Jones and powered by Pat Steward and Doug Elliott (formerly of the Odds), features what DuVall calls “pumped up punk rock power pop.”
Music from her new album will be used in a Whistler-produced extreme sports video. Now DuVall is coming to Eugene to play her own special brand of girlie rock. Call John Henry’s for more information at 342-3358.
— Alix Kerl
Plays delve into social,
power structures
Four students will perform two short plays that explore social dynamics and power structures at the Pocket Playhouse this weekend.
Mitra Anoushiravani will produce and direct a cast of three women and one man in Bertolt Brecht’s “The Beggar or the Dead Dog” and “He Drives Out A Devil.” The plays will be performed today, Friday and Saturday. Each show starts at 5 p.m. in the Pocket Playhouse, 102 Villard. Tickets to the show are free, but the Pocket Playhouse suggests a $1 donation.
Anoushiravani, a senior majoring in theater and political science, chose the two Brecht plays as a challenge. She had never directed or produced a play before, nor had she formally studied the overtly political German playwright.
“Brecht is about putting it out there and letting you walk away with what you will,” she said. “People can put their own ideas into the show.”
The Pocket Playhouse is a student-run theater that allows students to direct, act and produce original and previously staged works. Each term, roughly five to seven plays are produced at the Pocket Playhouse.
Anoushiravani especially liked the language and storyline of “The Beggar or the Dead Dog.” It is the story of a newly victorious emperor who runs into a beggar on a street, and after a verbal tête-à-tête, returns to his castle.
“The beggar gets all of the fun stuff to say,” she said.
For “He Drives Out the Devil,” which has a more complex storyline and set, Anoushiravani employed classic Brechtian props of flashcards to let the audience know where the action was taking place. She said the audience will not have problems understanding the storyline.
“It struck me as a play about male and female dynamics, and sometimes that can get pretty raw,” she said.
In social and political terms, pushing the envelope is a natural extension of the theater, Anoushiravani said.
“It’s why you do live theater,” she said. “It’s live and real.”
— John Liebhardt
