| It is
always a challenge to attempt to portray
the varied world of a Shakespeare play
with the limited resources of a School
Hall and a company of school-girl actors.
On November 29th and November 30th, 1973
the production of "Twelfth
Night" rose to this challenge with
great success. As the curtain rose on the
famous opening lines we could easily feel
that we were indeed in Illyria, and
sharing the problems and joys of Viola in
her disguise as the page Cesario. We
enjoyed the boisterous comedy of Sir Toby
Belch and Sir Andrew Augecheeck, the wit
and humour of the fool Festa, and the
downfall of the proud and ambitious
Malvolio. The girls
maintained a high standard of
verse-speaking and there were some very
able performances. Gena Caulton was a
delightfully vulgar Sir Toby Belch,
Hilary McCabe an angular 'Sir Andrew
Aguecheek, Susan Woods a plaintive and
tuneful Feste and Stephanie Simm gave a
mature and sensitive interpretation of
the difficult role of Malvolio. Carol
Appleton (Viola), Gillian Need-ham
(Orsino), and Gillian Brown (Olivia) must
also be singled out for special mention.
Sebastian (Ruth Fairclough) and Viola
succeeded in looking sufficiently alike
for the confusion about their identities
to seem credible. The play moved quickly
from Orsino's palace to Olivia's house
with no unnecessary pauses, and all
difficulties were finally resolved in the
final scene, with Malvolio's ill-humour
as the only discordant note.
It would
be impossible to mention all the people
who helped to make this production such a
success. Among the many members of staff
who were involved in the production were
Mr. G. Hudson and Miss F. Cugley who
designed and painted the back-cloth. The
excellent costumes were devised and made
by Miss G. Seddon, Miss R. Moss and many
others including both staff and pupils.
Music both before and during the
performance was provided by Miss H. Bogle
and some members of the School Orchestra.
However
the credit for the production as a whole
must ultimately be given to the
producers: Mrs. M. Webb and Miss 'P.
Tarver. Their hard work and expertise
succeeded in welding 'together the large
company, and they overcame all
difficulties to produce a memorable and
interesting "Twelfth Night".
A.C.
|
