Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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The Theatre of the NAC was where the majority of the School's excursions headed. The Stratford National Theatre of Canada presented 'sTartuffe and 4'Cymbeline in the Fall, and The Duchess of Malfi and Much Ado About Nothing in the Winter. Both Cymbeline and The Duchess of Malfi strained, at times, the credulity of a generation used to the exposition of stark realism on film and to relying on the subtleties of expression which can be caught only by the camera. The Elizabcthans relied almost exclusively on words to communicate feeling, and one's involvement with what was happen- ing on stage decreased as the evening lengthened. In fact both productions were close to three and a half hours long and, if drowsiness was not experienced close to the end of each, certainly one's powers of concentration had suffered a significant decline. Nevertheless, a large group witnessed both productions and were unanimous in realizing the importance of experiencing Elizabethan theatre even though it wasn't at its best. l understand that Tartuffe and Much Ado About Nothing were more successful. The rendering of Ibsen's Enemy of the People by the St. Lawrence Centre of the Arts was an unqualified successg not only because it dealt with the current issue of pollution, but also because of superb acting and direction. The setting was a small town in Saskatchewan and the time was 'now'. Even so the essence of lbsen's insight remained intact. A man who holds views that run contrary to the mainstream of opinion struggles to express these views and have them acted upon, because he strongly believes he is right. But he and his views are unacceptable to the community because both assault the self-interests of too many factions. The presentation of this theme was dramatically persuasive. The bilingual members of the School went to see productions of Moliere's Le Misanthropen and Camus' Caligula . Mr. Glover and Mr. Inns of the French Department reported that both were received with enthusiasm and interest by those attending. lt is heartening to think that the School is in a position to take advantage of these NAC French-language productions. The Charlottetown Festival Company arrived at the NAC Opera House in the Fall to perform Anne of Green Gables and Private Turveyis War . The Junior School and grade Nines went to the former and discovered first hand why it was a 'hit'. Most of the remainder of the School saw Private Turvey's War . It moved quickly and was frequently amusing, though I was disappointed that I didn't opt to see Anne of Green Gables . The general opinion suggests that it was the better of the two. Last, but not least by any means, a large group enjoyed the 1970 production of Love and Maple Syrup . A gathering of songs and poems by Canadians was performed with gusto by a talented group of six. l was delighted to see that a poem by an old school friend of mine. Pierre Coupey, was included in the program. No doubt one or two members of the Ashbury audiences will receive credits one day for a similar achievement. If the majority of them don't reach such a pinnacle of artistic success, after this year's exposure to the theatre, they will unquestionably form knowledgeable and interested audiences of the future. Thanks for this is entirely due to Mr. Peter Josselyn, Head of the English Department. His enthusiasm for the theatre has commun- icated itself to the whole of the student body. I speak for staff and students when I extend thanks for his untiring organizational efforts and his inspi- ration. M.H.P. 19

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PUBLIC SPEAKING 6'This I believe . . . was the 1971 theme of the Optimist International Oratorical Contest. Ashbury entered Hugh Christie, Robert Pimm and Mat- thew Bowlinson in the local contest sponsored by the Ottawa Optimist Club. Each of the boys did exceedingly well with Matthew winning the second place trophy. The 1972 theme is Our Challenge - Involvement . Ashbury might well consider involvement in public speaking contests as a challenge for next year. The Optimist sponsored venture starts with local district com- petitions and ends with North American finals. David Heaney and Stephen Stirling entered the Ottawa district public speaking contest sponsored by the Ontario Public School Trustee Association and the Ontario Hydro. In the prepared speech section David came second and in the impromptu section Stephen came first. Stephen went on to win the zone final. In Toronto at the Ontario finals he competed with high school students from all over the province. Hydro arranged a tour at Niagara Falls and a banquet at Toronto's King Edward Hotel for all contestants. It was an enjoyable and worthwhile effort. In the School itself we had one of our best Public Speaking contests ever. In the Senior competition Jeffrey Graham won the Gary Horning Memorial Prize over Brian Boyd, Norman Clubb and Sean Power. Intermediate con- testants were Hugh Christie, Stuart Jelenick, Nicholas Polk, Matthew Rowlinson and Stephen Tanos. Matthew emerged as winner of the Ross McMaster Prize. Judges Leslie Barnes, James Barnett and John Charnell were very impressed by the high standards exhibited by all participants. The senior contestants mainly focused on life at Ashbury for their speeches. A good deal of sensitive awareness and mature judgement was shown in the constructive criticism they offered. Jeff Graham brought the assembly to its feet in thunderous applause. Nothing could have better demonstrated the power of the orator and the validity of stressing public speaking in Ashbury. E.E.G. THE THEATRE The School in large and small numbers made a total of twelve trips to the theatre, eleven of those to the National Arts Centre. The musical, Half a Sixpence , staged at Lasalle Academy by The Ottawa Little Theatre, was atended by a small group in the latter half of the Winter term. A light musical comedy which enjoyed some success on Broadway, Half a Sixpence amused and entertained those who went. A larger group was organized to attend The Ottawa Little Theatre's production of Noel C0ward's Hay Fever presented in the Theatre of the NAC. Both the lyrics and action of this forty year old comedy delighted the youthful but not undemanding audience of Ashbury students. This particular production served to raise funds for the Ottawa Little Theatre, which was experiencing financial difficulties as the result of the destruction by fire of its long-time stamping grounds on King Edward Avenue. 18

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THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE AT ELMWOOD For the fifth year in succession Ashbury joined forces with Elmwood to present a Gilbert and Sullivan opera - this time The Pirates of Penzance . Although this is one of the shorter Savoy operas, it poses problems to an amateur company. There is very little spoken dialogue, much of the story is told through recitative and arioso, and it is essential that every point should get across clearly. lt is also one of the best known and frequently performed of all comic operas, consequently every production runs far more risk of comparison with other productions. It is pleasant to be able to report that the Ashbury-Elmwood team solved these problems successfully. We were able to follow the story with no trouble, and the production did not have to fear comparison with others. Indeed, one member of the audience, who has had much to do with both amateur and professional theatre, was heard to say that this was the best school presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan she had ever seen. It was certainly far and away the best of the five which this company has mounted. It had pace, clarity, good movement and grouping, and mainly excellent performances in the leading roles. It is, however, time that Mr. Geoffrey Thomson discovered some new dance steps, or looked for a profes- sional choreographer! Of the principals, pride of place must be given to the hero and heroine - Dell Hallett and Jacqueline Hurd. They have both had plenty of experience in past productions, and this obviously paid dividends. There was no gauche- ness or embarrassment in their love scenes, and they both acted with sincerity, conviction and assurance. Jacqueline Hurd's singing voice is small, but she uses it musically and intelligently, and she shows a promising com- mand of coloratura technique - a technique which is called for pretty often in this part. Dell Hallett showed that he is a rare phenomenon among teen-agers for adults, for that matterj - a natural tenor. He encompassed his high notes easily and with no sign of strain or effort, his enunciation was excellent, and he caught to perfection all the many and varied moods of his immensely long part. Both these two show very real promise. We regret that this was their fare- well appearance in Rockcliffe Park, and it is to be hoped that they will lose no opportunity of gaining further musical and dramatic experience, indeed, they ought to study singing seriously. But perhaps the finest all-round performance of the evening came from Jennifer Chance as Ruth - Gilbert's usual old maid. unloved and on the shelf. Her facial expressions and sense of timing were superb. particularly in the long duet with Frederick, when he accuses her of deception. Jennifer Chance is another who will be a great loss to the company. and who should not let her talents go to waste. There were two very promising debuts. The first was Sean Power as the Sergeant of Police. He is a natural clown: he tended to overdo the buffoonery at times. but it is far easier for a producer to curb excesses than to get blood out of a stone! Sean Power is no stone, and we look forward to further manifestations of his great gift for comedy. 20