| 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.
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