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

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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.

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%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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