Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

Page 131 text:

Amongst the ladies of St. Mildred ' s, I was particularly taken with the carefully modulated intensity of Philippa Hall-Brooks. At times, she managed to inject a kind of con- trolled hysteria into the anxiety she felt for her daughter Juliet Moulsworth (played by Maureen Mclleveen). Amanda Keay also had come to grips with the humour in her part as Marfa ZIotochienko, the loyal party member come to correct a suspicious decadence in the household of the Russian em- bassy to the smallest country in Europe. The subtle chemistry of an actor finding the essence of his part defies analysis but when it ac- tually occurs nobody can mistake it. It certainly did happen for Alisdair Halliday as the Ar- chbishop. This was a small but sparkling mature performance from a young actor of great promise with a natural sense of how to manage both himself and an audience. A parting word. Congratulations to the sound man: and who put the desk upstairs in the Russian Embassy with the front facing to what would have been a wall?

Page 130 text:

It is now many years since that lazy but irrepressible Russian- blooded genius of the theatre, Peter Ustinov, wrote what is probably his most successful play, Romanoff and Juliet . Its popularity both on stage and as a film may be attributed to the solidity of its dramatic ar- chitecture. It is a beautifully craf- ted piece of stage writing. It has a good plot. It is very clever. What succeeds, however, on the professional stage is not necessarily ideal material for a School Production, which makes all the more creditable and wor- thy the achievement of Appleby College in producing such a solidly competent and at times inspired version as that seen on the College Stage, April 22 - 24. I suppose in a sense, you could say that Peter Ustinov cheated in stealing such a sure-sell plot as Shakespeare ' s Romeo and Juliet but since the great bard himself was not averse to borrowing here and there, I think he would be rather amused by the way Ustinov has made the story a vehicle for political satire. It is great fun and Appleby ' s boys together with the young ladies from St. Mildred ' s Lightbourn School obviously sensed the par- ticular style Ustinov has given his own play. Ustinov ' s demands on the resour- ces of the actors, designers and technicians are fairly excessive and the Appleby production had to contend with these in a per- forming space that is woefully inadequate, for even the simplest dramatic presentation. Sight lines from the flat gymnasium floor are simply appalling, there is virtually no wing space and only the scantiest lighting equipment. From all this unpromising situation, the students contrived a technical wonder: an exposed two-storey house on either side of the stage with a fully operational clock-tower in the middle distance. Of course, the top floors nearly touched the ceiling of the stage, and nobody could enjoy the carpets which I am assured were laid for the comfort of the actors! And what about those actors and actresses. Well of course you cannot expect uniform professional excellence from a cast of relative beginners. The remarkable thing is that a general high level of acting WAS achieved. Satirical material is not the easiest thing to handle: how well these young people un- derstood the demands of the script! In the cast of thirteen, certain performances stood out. Tim French and Edward Dickens as the First and Second Soldiers respectively, developed well the buffoonish nature of their roles as did Richard Wilson as the Spy. As the American Ambassador, Hooper Moulsworth, Hartland Paterson gave and endearing performance. His pomposity was entirely appropriate to the character. The way Hartland sustained it was extraordinary.

Page 132 text:

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