Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 31 text:

SAMARA 29 Mary Craig as Asano also had a difficult task, as the man in defeat and at the mercy of Kira. She sustained her part throughout, and her defiance and attack on her enemy was well differentiated from the earlier mood. A neat performance was given by the rather supercilious Sagisaka, counsellor of Kira, played by Jean Workman. She contrived to show the insolence such an ambitious lord ' s chief of staff might be expected to have, and provided some of the lighter relief. Incidentally her make-up rather well suggested her early misfortune of contact with a mule. Hazel Ross gave a dignified rendering of her small part as the Envoy. Mary Lyman as Fourth Ronin delivered her news of Kira ' s approach with feeling and character. Her subsequent appearance as a woman of Kira ' s palace provided her with another opportunity of getting well into her part. Miriam Cruikshank as Chikara, Kurano ' s son, suggested the youth who is called upon for a man ' s part before his years, and the scene with his father at night was indeed quite moving. Harriet Mathias, as the poor girl, gave a convincing playing with Kurano in the deception of his wife, and that lady played by Anne Coghlin had a difficult part to put spirit into the wife cast off as faithless. The groupings and the mob scenes were excellently done, and the gesture and movement throughout well directed. The costumes and make-up both were very good. There were several minor parts that were all well taken, although the speech gener- ally was inclined to be unduly rushed, to the loss of variation of tone, and consequently to the life of the characters portrayed, otherwise the audibility was good. Miss MacBrien can be congratulated on some fine work done by her pupils in a very difficult play.— K.E.H.

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28 SAMARA Act I, Scene 1, Act II throughout, and in Scenes 1, 2 and 4 of Act III, the scene is: An open space near Asano ' s palace. Act I, Scene 2, and in Act III, Scene 3, the scene is: A room in Kira ' s palace. Time: Acts I and II, March 10, 1701; Act III, March 10, 1702. (Under the direction of JuHa MacBrien.) In the presentation of this tragedy of Masefield, Miss Julia McBrien, who directs the dramatic art studies at Elm wood school, gave her senior pupils a task in which the difficulties were sur- mounted to an encouraging degree. A sense of tragedy and hopelessness dominates the whole play, with the exception of one or two points of relief in humour and characterization, for the play deals with the revenge of a Japanese counsellor, Kurano, for the death through the plotting of the ambitious Kira, of his friend and overlord Asano. Kira rises in favour and acquires through law and conquest the defeat of Asano whom he humiliates to the point of a passionate attack in the sacred presence of the Mikado ' s envoy. The punishment for such offence is death, and in his last moments Asano leaves to his friend Kurano the avenging of the wrongs. Renouncing his home and wife, but followed by his son, Kurano, and other faithful of Asano ' s followers, become wan- derers but leagued in plans for the accomplishment of their pur- pose. A year passes, when after defaul tings on the part of some followers, but with renewed confidence in Kurano despite feign- ings of the drunkard and madman, they attack Kira in his un- guarded palace and offer him the only escape, which is by death. This final faithfulness to Japanese tradition is foreshadowed, the full tragedy of the last scene spared. The settings were admirable in their simplicity and made an effective background, particularly the first of the open space near Asano ' s palace, in which the lighting played an important part, and in the second the suggestion by the black and gold hangings of the richness of a room in Kira ' s palace. Notable Performances There were two notable performances: those of Kira by Theodosia Bond and the Kurano of the second and third acts, by Debora Coulson. Both gave a discerning reading of their parts, and the characters lived all the time, in their varied moods. They were exacting roles, particularly Kurano ' s, with the contrast to be made as the singer-madman-drinker. Their movement, gesture, and variation of tone were all alike well carried out.

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30 SAMARA HIS YEAR as usual music has been an important feature m (T of the day ' s routine for many of us, and the music pupils y have made great strides in their work. Two of Miss Tipple ' s pupils have now become students of Mr. Puddi- combe. Last June Ailsa Gerard won Mr. Puddicombe ' s Gold Medal awarded to the most proficient performer in the school, and the improvement medal was presented to Genevieve Bronson. Three of the most outstanding music pupils had the honour of playing to Her Excellency when she came to see us on February 9th. This season we have been exceptionally fortunate in having attended so many interesting concerts. Before Christmas we heard Percy Grainger, and Josef Hoffman, and since then we have attended an organ recital, and performances by the Ottawa Little Symphony, the Ottawa String Quartette, Albert Spalding, Eleanor Cook, Richard Crooks, and Yvon Barette, a pupil of Mr. Puddicombe. The school Music Recital was held on March 31st. Des- pite the fact that it was two months earlier than usual, it was good and the usual standard well sustained. We were very pleased to welcome back an old Elmwood girl, Jean Brodie, from Montreal, who visited the school one afternoon and played to us items from a recital she had recently given in that city. Miss Tipple has directed our singing this year, and we are attempting a great undertaking, the production of the Mikado We hope its success will be as great as our enjoyment has been in preparing it. The performance takes place in May 23rd. During Lent we were invited to join the Ashbury choir in singing Stainer ' s ' ' Crucifixion . Twelve of the boarders took part, and on Sunday April 2nd, all the boarders went over to Ashbury to hear the full rendering, which was considered very good. Altogether it has been a most interesting and profitable year in the sphere of Elmwood music.