St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 55 text:

%wlu on This year the school abandoned its customary pattern of biennial major dramatic productions, and tackled an interesting, unusual and challenging play — Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot. This play, written mostly in verse, relates the story of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket’s return to England from exile in France, where he had gone as a result of conflict between him and King Henry and his subsequent assassina¬ tion in the Cathedral of Canterbury at the hands of the King’s knights. The play affords diverse, challenging roles and the unusual addition of a chorus, similar to that of Greek drama, makes it most suitable for a large cast. The casting took place in December, and all the major parts were filled in time for memory work to begin over the holidays. Rehearsals began in January on a less rigorous but more intensive schedule than had been adopted for former productions. One major rehearsal weekend was held in February, and it was not long before dress rehearsal and performance dates, March 24-26 had arrived. On the evening of the dress rehearsal the cast were the guests of Mr. Gordon at an excellent Chinese dinner held at Chan’s restaurant; everyone en¬ joyed this immensely. Due to the nature of the play it was obviously more effective to present it in a Church rather than in a theatre, and we were most fortunate in receiving wonderful co-operation from Holy Trinity Anglican Church, an impressive and beautiful building downtown. It is difficult in a yearbook write-up to assess accurately or honestly the performances of the actors. If one, or both, of the Winnipeg newspapers would accept our invitation to review the play we could then rely on their critical judgment and merely pass it on to the readers of The Eagle. In the opinion of those who voiced their impressions, the characterization of Becket as portrayed by Aaron Schwartz was a great achievement. Aaron gave to the role dignity and poise; he spoke his lines with feeling and sincerity and brought an understanding to the part which was remarkable for a boy of sixteen. In the roles of the three priests Muir Meredith, Bill

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This year the winter carnival was held on February fifth. The day was perfect as the temperature was twenty above and the sun was shining brightly. Events began at about one-thirty with a broomball game, which never did seem to end. Armed with brooms, shovels or broken hockey sticks, the broomball crowd set the jubilant mood for the rest of the day. Following the broomball game the senior hockey team played a game of HACK-EY against the fierce oppostion of four Balmoral Hall players and several other girls. Many thanks to those girls who helped to knock the senior team and its helpers down a notch or two. Several ski-doos were giving people rides and many thanks to their owners. Just before the ski-doo race was held, end¬ ing the afternoon, a toboggan race was run. The two teams, each consisting of four boys and four girls batted it out on the snow covered football field. There was no winner, as in the end, all the boys were pulling all the girls on the same toboggan. The afternoon ended with Mr. Gardiner winning the long and skill test¬ ing ski-doo race. Hockey and tobogganing seemed the favorites of the lower school. There were several families out at the carnival and I would like to express my thanks to those parents who helped supervise and support the carnival. The carnival ended for the lower school with a party for the younger boys and a tally-ho for the older ones. Events in the evening began with the annual beauty queen contest. Miss Bryan Ryder won the contest and Miss Jamie Little and Miss Peter Fahlgren were chosen as her princesses by the applause of the on¬ lookers. Following the beauty queen contest, the carnival mob left for the tally-ho at Western Stables. It was a warm evening, but many of the boys complained about the cold (?). On the arrival of the mob back at the school, Mr. Girard and two of his friends entertained the group for about half an hour by singing folk songs. After the hootenanny the dance began. The SPECTRES did an excellent job and the dance seemed to be a great success. At last, however, twelve o ’clock signalled the end of the 1966 winter carnival. It was a big success financially. The carnival committee now has a large sum of money which is going to be given to Fort Providence as a gift from the school for some object the town has urgent need of. In closing, I would like to thank Harold and Mrs. Fitzsimmons and all the boys who helped to organize the carnival, for there assistance in making the carnival the success it was.

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tk toJk bd O.A. ■ J ' A Cottick and John Kiddell deserved great praise. They maintained a high level performance and supported Aaron ably in all the major scenes. Both Muir Meredith and John Kiddell delivered their major speeches beautifully. Of the four tempters Brian Ryder deserves the most credit for improvement during the production, and this, after all, is the purpose of SJR productions — to train actors. Ryder was specially impressive on the Saturday night; however Ian Fraser, Bill Gardner and Mark Jackman also acted well and delivered their lines well and with conviction. The four knights, David Sprague, Peter Fahlgren, Bill Gray and Paul Schmidt, gave equally smooth and effective performances and in the modern transition section of the play, where the four explain their actions, Paul Schmidt carried off a character part extremely well. Terry McGaughey, as the messenger, should be mentioned with credit for a good delivery of his lines. The chorus, as a whole, did an excellentjob; Ron Little, the leader, kept a steady hand on the helm and was ably assisted by Rob McCarten and Edward Orton. There was a discipline and precision in the delivery of the chorus’ lines which not only made an admirable background to the major speeches, but which brought out the music and variety of Eliot’s words. They are to be congratulated. Many thanks are due to the people who devoted a great deal of time and energy to the success of the play. Mark Glasgow, as stage manager, and the creator of many excellent properties, Bill McWilliams who handled the lighting, John Kilgour who helped with and organized properties all deserve credit for work well done. Special thanks are extended to Mr. Geith, who organized ticket sales, to Mr. Hammond who, with Mrs. Maurer, did the make-up; to Mr. Ronald Gibson, who provided the organ music; to Mrs. Stewart who did such a won¬ derful job on costumes, and who proved to be an invaluable help backstage; to Mrs. Maurer, who devoted much time to the play as assistant director and especially to Mr. McLeod the director, to whose tireless effort and ability may be attributed the ultimate success of the play.