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From the 1937-38 Chronicle magazine, with newspaper cuttings donated by Betty Mercey (nee Shaw), who played the part of Caliban.
THE SCHOOL PLAY
“THE TEMPEST”
18TH AND 19TH FEBRUARY, 1938
Left to right: Sebastian (Joan Smith), Antonio (Margaret Harris), Adrian (Gladys Mayes), Francisco (Hilda Fowler)
CHARACTERS:
ALONSO, King of Naples: Stella Dimock
SEBASTIAN, his brother: Joan Smith
PROSPERO, the right Duke of Milan: Margaret Davis
ANTONIO, his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan: Margaret Harris
FERDINAND, son to the King of Naples: Helen Oliver
GONZALO, an honest old Counsellor: Jean Forsyth
ADRIAN: Gladys Mayes
FRANCISCO Lords: Hilda Fowler
CALIBAN, a savage and deformed slave: Betty Shaw
TRINCULO, a Jester: Doris Holliday
STEPHANO, a drunken Butler: Doreen Ruff
MASTER OF A SHIP: Joan Need
BOATSWAIN: Margaret Fox
MIRANDA, Daughter to Prospero: Margaret Noakes
ARIEL, an airy Spirit: Freda Pacey
IRIS: Barbara Davies
CERES, presented by Spirits: Joan Tomkinson
JUNO: Marguerite Macadam
MARINERS: Dorothy Church, Joan Tomkinson, Joyce Ward, Lorna Pacey
STRANGE SHAPES, presented by Spirits: Barbara Crockett, Helen Herbert, June Lawson, Olga Loomes, Gaynor Moore, Joyce Ward
NYMPHS, presented by Spirits: Ruth Clapham, Barbara Crockett, Rosemary Fox, Audrey Worthy
REAPERS, presented by Spirits: Hilda Fowler, Margaret Fox, Betty Jellings, Mary Paul
PRODUCERS: Miss Ward and Miss Hall
STAGE MANAGER: Miss White
MUSIC: Miss Green and Miss Redfearn
VIOLINS: Joan Chapman, Margaret Cox, Hilda Turnill, Mary Woolcock
HORN: Mr Cyril Laxton
VOICES: Joan Bates, Audrey Binns, Eileen Broome, Margaret Burnham, Grace Clarke, Pamela Cohring, Margaret Cooper, Evelyn Gubbins, Kathleen Smith, Mary Woolcock
DANCES: Miss Buxbaum and Miss Miller-Jones
COSTUMES AND SETTING: designed by Miss Pearson and made by members of the school
MAKE-UP: Miss Miller-Jones and Mr H. Wilson
PROPERTIES: Miss Pearson
LIGHTING: Miss Leach
BUSINESS MANAGER: Miss Harris
Looking back on “The Tempest” I remember several thngs. The island was “full of music, sounds and sweet airs”.
After the thunder and noisy confusion and darness of the shipwreck scene we were in a magic island, another world, and for two hours of the performance the triumph of the play was that it held us spellbound.
It is the voices that I remember first – the measured solemnity of Prospero, the music of Miranda’s voice, and the differing tones of raucous Stephano, unearthly Ariel, prattling Trinculo, and brutish Caliban, who, repulsive as he was, well suggested an impatience for something nobler, which made really significant his final repudiation of the drunken pair.
The excellence of the production was seen at once in the casting and in the real understanding of the play which showed itself in the speaking of the verse and in the unity of impression that the play made.
For dramatic ability two performances, beside that of Caliban, were outstanding – that of Joan Smith, in the very small part of Sebastian, and that of Doris Holliday, whose good fortune as a comic actress it is to be able to act with her face and with her fingers, as well as with her voice.
It is difficult in short space to thank by name everybody who helped. It was the School Play – and this means that all the Staff, and almost every girl, in some measure, contributed to the presentation of the play and shared the joy of its success. Miss Pearson not only designed the setting and dresses, but supervised the making of them, and did a great deal of the practical work herself. Miss White was a most efficient Stage Manager. To Miss Ward and Miss Hall, who shared the responsibility for the production, we are especially indebted. Their enthusiasm and generous sacrifice of leisure time were well rewarded.
O. I. V.
Left to right: Caliban (Betty Shaw), Stephano (Doreen Ruff), Trinculo (Doris Holliday)
BEHIND THE SCENES
On Friday night I arrived at the Elwes Hall one-and-a-half hours before the performance of “The Tempest” began. I felt very excited as I helped Miss White get the scenery ready and watched the characters being made up int he dressing rooms. I helped Miss pearson erect the wide plank behind the scenery, which Juno and Ariel had to enter on. They found it rather wobbly, so Helen and I had to hold it whenever anyone walked down it. During one rehearsal, when June was walking up it, it collapsed.
At about six o’clock I practised the black-out with the other four scene shifters. I felt rather nervous, as I stood in the wings, ready to rush out on to the stage and seize a bunch of bananas and a box of fruit from the banqueting table, as soon as I heard the cue, “Stand to and do as we”, when all the lights went out and the stage was in complete blackness. After practising the blackout, which we did without a mistake, I collected all the properties which I had to put on the stage at different times and had a last look at my paper of cues, hoping I would not forget anything.
Then Miss Leach showed us how a dawn was made on the stage and how to turn the lights out gradually in the hall, and how the other switches worked. At half-past six we heard the first of the audience coming in, so we had to be quiet, and Jean Hart and I went round talking in excited whispers, helping where we could.
Then at last there was silence in the audience and I heard Miss Vail’s speech very clearly, after which jean slowly opened the curtain and the play began. After the first scene I made myself comfortable on the ropes which I had taken out at the end of the scene. I could hear very well, and occasionally I saw the actors on the stage through a slit in the curtain.
I was kept very busy during the play, as I had special jobs to do after each scene. Sometimes I had to take a rock onto the stage or take one off or move one into a different direction or put Prospero’s clothes into the cave. The two jobs I enjoyed best and which caused the most excitement were the black-out and holding the wobbly plank during one of the long scenes. I was kneeling down on the platform behind the scenery, with my head only a few inches below the level of the rocks, and if I had bobbed up one little bit the audience would have been able to see me.
Jean Farren, Lower V.
Peterborough County School for Girls 