| The
junior school play this year was
Peter Terson's fine play Zigger
Zagger. The production tells the
story of one boy, Harry, and the
fight between two facets of his
nature. These facets are
represented by two characters,
Zigger and Lea. Zigger
Zagger is the leader of the City
End mob. The mob follow football
religiously and don't give a damn
about anything or anyone else.
They live for Saturday afternoon
- the match, and Saturday night -
the booze. All Zigger can offer
Harry are the immediate pleasures
of football, aggro, girls and
drink.
Lea,
however, is trying valiantly to
give Harry a future like his: a
house, a home, a good job and a
good wife. Lea is a "perfect
British workman" with DIY
furniture, fake cultural
interests and a pipe. Lea' life
can offer security but Lea is
sublimely dull.
In the
internal battle between the two
sides, Harry is not helped by his
well~meaning but gormless mother,
a "hip" vicar who tells
him the exact opposite of what he
wants to hear, and a girlfriend
who eventually becomes worse than
Zigger.
Finally,
Harry plumps for Les' life, but
obviously the internal turmoil is
still going on and he is not
wholly satisfied with his choice.
The
entire cast gave high-spirited
performances and were very
convincing. The leading roles
were an good as expected and the
many minor characters, such as
the policeman and Harry's
teachers were excellently played
too. The crowd were just like the
real thing with their chants,
whistles and songs. They produced
a great sound for such a small
number of people.
The
scene-shifting was efficient and
unobtrusive., As we have come to
expect from P.G.1s productions,
the sound effects and lighting
were spot on - not a bang or a
flicker out of place. Despite
great problems at the production
stage, Paul Marsh designed a
convincing and functional set.
Paul did a similar job two
summers ago when he worked on the
National Youth Theatre's
production of the same play.Of
course, enough praise cannot be
heaped on Mrs. Enid McBurnie for
her production of the play. She
did a wonderful job of updating
and adapting the play for
Liverpool supporters. The whole
play bore the mark of her flair
for drama production, although
this was her first solo
production of a play on this
scale.I certainly hope that the
two year old tradition of Middle
School plays will continue for
some time to come.
Jon
Harrison
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