Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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T261 THE ASHBURIAN THE PLAYS QUEER STREET Produced by A. B. Belcher Bill l'lOrt ...e.. ..,................,e,...,v,,,,.,,,.. S ,.,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,-,,, , P, I-latgh Liza l-lOtt ......... .J. Northcott Eclith l-lart ....,. -,,,,- , P, Arahdale Albert Smith .,..,. ,,,,,,,,,, W , Eliot Joe Smart ,.e.... ..............,.......,................ ....,.,,,, B , l-larben Detective ...,.. .................. s .,,.,,..,,.,..- , ..,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,. A S , Pegram THE HOUSEMASTER . Mr. Donkin ..... ,...................,.............,.......... ,,..,.,, L , Chapman Mr. Hastings ,..... ....... M , Shenstone Mr. Ovington ..... ,,,,,,,,, , D, Hooper Mr. Beamish .,,.... ,,,,,,,. , R, Sablin Mr. de Pourville .,........ .,,.,,,,,,,.,, , R. Boutin Barbara Fone .......,.....,. ....... . A, Woodward Rosemary Faringdon ....... .,,,,,,... s J, Atherton Chris Faringdon .... ......... ....... . P , Warburton Button Earingdon ...... .,.,......... , A, Price Bimbo Earingdon ......... .......... J , Spencer Flossie Nightingale ........ ......,.., T , Winser Sir Berkeley Nightingale ........ ......... W , Nelles Motron ..........c...................... .,.......... J . Lennard Travers .......................... ........ D . Matthews James .cc.....,...o.o...........,................ ............... , s ..,.............o....,..................... E, Pilgrim Crump EE,...................,..... ..............,,,.........,.................,.. ............... ................ T . K enny Produced by N. lvl. Archdale Stage Managers-l-l. Bulpit and l-l. Price N the night of Saturday, March l l, the school presented its annual plays at the Technical School Auditorium before an appreciative audience of nearly 600 people. The performance was honoured by the presence of Their Excellencies the Governor General and the Princess Alice, who afterwards went backstage to meet the players who had made the evening such a success. Departing from its usual custom of presenting three short pieces, the school this year put on two comedies-a one-act play and a shortened version of a full length one. The first play presented was J. A. Kelley's Queer Street, which was pro- duced by Mr. Belcher. lt is the story of a respectable burglar whose daughter gets engaged to a policeman, and of the complications which ensue when the policeman enters his home. The role of Bill l-lart, the burglar, was con- vincingly handled by l-latch, whose only fault lay in rather hurrying his lines. Northcott gave a finished performance as Liza l-lart, Bill's wife, his voice and diction were the best of the cast. Pat Archdale, the only female member of either cast, was charming as Edith l-lar.t, the burglar's love-sick daughter. The part of her fiance, Albert Smith, was played by Eliot l, who gave a creditable performance in a rather thankless part, but was inclined to overact. The character role of Joe Smart, I-lart's bungling and slow-witted assistant, was

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THE ASHBURIAN mi played with skill by Harben ll, and the confusion caused by his eritrurice provided the greatest comedy of the play. Pegram as the detective recitefi his lines, but in his part this was lust what was required Although some of the dialogue could not be heard the audience were laughing almost continuously The mayor port of the evening's entertainment was lan Hay's The House- master, also known as Bachelor Born, The difficulties of producing a light and subtle comedy of this type were well overcome, and in spite of the limited rehearsal time and the strain placed on the actors by the length of their parts the play went off extremely well. It is the story of a housemaster of an English public school who has his privacy altogether shattered by the sudden arrival of an old friend and her three young nieces, who proceed to get themselves and their friends into all kinds of adventures-and misadventures. The difficult and long part of Charles Donkin, the housemaster, was played with exceptional ability and understanding by Chapman. No one better could have been chosen for the part, and much credit is due to him for the hard work he did. Shenstone as Hastings, the witty and sarcastic maths master, gave a first-class performance. The thankless part of the Reverend Edmund Ovington, the school's conceited and narrow-minded headmaster, was played by Hooper, who managed to be extremely funny. Sablin played Beamish, Mr. Donkin's sporty young assistant, very well, and Bautin, showed much feeling as de Pourville, the music teacher. Woodward as Barbara Fone, Donkin's old friend, Atherton as Rosemary, and Warburton l as Chris, all overcame well the difficulties of their feminine parts, but Price ll as Button stole the show, many of the audience wanted to know who that little girl was. Spencer as Bimbo Button's twin brother was the perfect schoolboy, while Winser as Flossie Nightingale gave a good performance as an older boy. The man- nerisms of Nelles as Sir Berkeley Nightingale, the astute and slightly pompous politician, were both convincing and funny. Mr. Archdale is to be congratulated on the excellent job he did in casting both plays, and both he and Mr. Belcher should be thanked for their good work in producing the plays. We would also like to thank Miss Gordon and Dr. Renny for making up the actors, our stage managers, Bulpit and Price, and also Tony Lee, who very kindly came down and helped us, and our ushers, who did such an efficient job. The general opinion was that this was a very entertaining and successful evening, We were able to turn over S240 dollars to the Red Cross. SCHCDOL PARLIAMENT FTER some false starts a long cherished dream of the Headmasters' really began this year. A representative body, at present called School Parlia- ment in default ofa better name was elected. It consists of the Prefects, one elected monitor and a representative from each form in the Middle and Upper Schools. The Headmaster, at present takes the chair. lt is hoped that from being as it is now, an advisory body, and a sounding-board of school opinion, the School Parliament will take unto itself more responsibilities as time goes on. lt is intended too that the Junior School should have a similar body to represent them.