National Operatic & Dramatic Association
Thank you for inviting me to report on this very well written, directed and performed, play. Thank you too for your usual warm welcome Ruth and for the drinks. It was useful that I could also have a quick chat with director Kat Mann – Kat I would never have guessed that this was your directorial debut – very well done indeed. I know that Ruth Salsbury assisted you and the overall result was most impressive. Good use was made of exits and entrances through the auditorium.
Your simple set, designed and built by Ian Selinger, was most effective, just a few different levels papered with book wallpaper worked extremely well and proved to be all that was required. I realized from the fact that you had a screen in the middle that something was supposed to be projected – it was just unfortunate that this tech side of things threw a strop and refused to work when I was there. I do hope you sorted it out for the rest of the run? Was it just the scene titles that were missing? If so, I don’t think they were really necessary as the information was in Clare Ball’s programme which was very well designed, with some good photographs from Christian Ball and Rosalind White. The programme also contained some well researched and relevant information. The list of students in residence at Girton in June 1897 made me want to know what happened to them all – were they all proved to be unmarriageable, surely not!
Lighting designed by Peter Humphreys with assistant Ash Copeland, alongside Nick Cooper’s sound all worked well – apart from the blank screen in the middle of the stage of course. Nice owl SFX!
Julia Saddler got the costumes just right, I could not fault any of the period outfits It is always the little touches which add so much to the period feel – such as watch chains. Just one other comment, would a widow have worn a white lace cap or a black one? Should it have had streamers? However, I was not so sure about some of the girls’ earrings which looked a tad too modern and/or inappropriate for the characters.
Sandra Delgado’s period props were, on the whole, excellent. I did think that one of the text books looked a little modern and surely the champagne glasses of the period were bowls not modern flutes?. The essays handed out looked good and the pages were tied together which added to the period feel – staplers and paperclips had been invented by the 1880s but I think that they would have been rare in such a traditional atmosphere as that engendered by Cambridge University in the late Victorian period. You also took on the ‘bit ‘parts of Librarian and Lady in Café and acted well.
Hair styles for the entire cast had been well thought out and executed – no credit in the programme so I assume you all sorted yourselves out?
SM Andy Kennett is to be congratulated on co-ordinating some very slick scene changes using the cast to full advantage. These were, I am sure, well-rehearsed so everyone involved was absolutely confident on this, your first night.
The four girls, Katy Devine as Maeve Sullivan, Ellie Hawkes as Celia Willbond, Leanne Sarah as Tess Moffat and Cerys Beesley as Carolyn Addison, were all well cast and the four actresses concerned brought out the contrasts in each girl’s character very well. Good voice projection especially from Cerys but there is obviously an acoustic problem in the new refurbed theatre and I think all performers and directors need to be aware that when an actor is angled away from the audience the side corridors seem to absorb some of the sound. I would suggest that you dot a few of your cast around the auditorium and the stage and try it out sometime to find out where the dead spots are. Katy gave a very strong and emotional performance when she was sent home – against her will - to take on the role of ‘mother’ to her siblings
The five boys, Benjamin Churchill as Ralph Mayhew, Laurence Kirk as Lloyd, Max Wittwer as Holmes, Ian Wainwright as Edwards and Hedi Ourdani as Will Bennett were also all well cast and, like the girls, the five actors brought out the varied aspects of each boy’s character – especially Laurence who put over the character’s arrogance and violent nature very well. Good projection too from all of you.
To see Peter Dodsworth, your Chairman, on stage instead of his usual position in front of a band, was an eyeopener! Peter, as the extremely pompous Dr Maudsley, you were excellent!
The role of the sympathetic lecturer at Trinity and Girton, Mr. Banks, was portrayed by Dale Carpenter. You managed to convey the fact that you for one realized that girls had brains and were entitled to use them to the full if they wished to. A nicely judged performance Dale.
Mrs. Elizabeth Welsh, Girton’s Mistress, was well played by Kate Wittwer. You brought just the right amount of firmness and dedication to the part and you managed to convey the character’s strong fighting spirit very well.
I must congratulate Sarah Shipley, Minnie the housemaid, on presence of mind! You dealt with the unexpected smashed glass well and safely – and, more to the point, in character. You were probably the only one who could do it as this would have been a natural part of your job. I suppose that Mr. Peck, Ben Sewell, could have sorted it out but it is more the task of the housemaid rather than the gardener! Ben, you had little to do or say but you reacted well to events around you.
Mandy Tabor, who played lecturer Miss Blake, seemed to be completely at home with this character.
Sharon Wilson doubled the roles of the chaperone, Miss Bott, and a shopkeeper and had a good upright Victorian posture, just right for her character, as well as projecting and moving well.
David Rhys, more usually to be seen on stage in a dance role I think, gave a powerful performance as Maeve’s brother Billy.
Other ‘bit’ roles, the three lecturers at Trinity, were well played by Mark Wainwright, Nick Clohessy and Gareth Johnson – you all absolutely reeked of male pomposity and charmlessness, not to mention some bad cases of misogyny! Very well played – I know these little parts are not always easy, but you nailed them gentlemen.
As I am sure you realized the audience was mesmerized – you could have heard a pin drop! A really excellent, and extremely enjoyable, production. This is a very powerful play and you did it justice - congratulations to you all.
Judith Watsham
Regional Rep NODA London 11 and 11A
Thank you for inviting me to report on this very well written, directed and performed, play. Thank you too for your usual warm welcome Ruth and for the drinks. It was useful that I could also have a quick chat with director Kat Mann – Kat I would never have guessed that this was your directorial debut – very well done indeed. I know that Ruth Salsbury assisted you and the overall result was most impressive. Good use was made of exits and entrances through the auditorium.
Your simple set, designed and built by Ian Selinger, was most effective, just a few different levels papered with book wallpaper worked extremely well and proved to be all that was required. I realized from the fact that you had a screen in the middle that something was supposed to be projected – it was just unfortunate that this tech side of things threw a strop and refused to work when I was there. I do hope you sorted it out for the rest of the run? Was it just the scene titles that were missing? If so, I don’t think they were really necessary as the information was in Clare Ball’s programme which was very well designed, with some good photographs from Christian Ball and Rosalind White. The programme also contained some well researched and relevant information. The list of students in residence at Girton in June 1897 made me want to know what happened to them all – were they all proved to be unmarriageable, surely not!
Lighting designed by Peter Humphreys with assistant Ash Copeland, alongside Nick Cooper’s sound all worked well – apart from the blank screen in the middle of the stage of course. Nice owl SFX!
Julia Saddler got the costumes just right, I could not fault any of the period outfits It is always the little touches which add so much to the period feel – such as watch chains. Just one other comment, would a widow have worn a white lace cap or a black one? Should it have had streamers? However, I was not so sure about some of the girls’ earrings which looked a tad too modern and/or inappropriate for the characters.
Sandra Delgado’s period props were, on the whole, excellent. I did think that one of the text books looked a little modern and surely the champagne glasses of the period were bowls not modern flutes?. The essays handed out looked good and the pages were tied together which added to the period feel – staplers and paperclips had been invented by the 1880s but I think that they would have been rare in such a traditional atmosphere as that engendered by Cambridge University in the late Victorian period. You also took on the ‘bit ‘parts of Librarian and Lady in Café and acted well.
Hair styles for the entire cast had been well thought out and executed – no credit in the programme so I assume you all sorted yourselves out?
SM Andy Kennett is to be congratulated on co-ordinating some very slick scene changes using the cast to full advantage. These were, I am sure, well-rehearsed so everyone involved was absolutely confident on this, your first night.
The four girls, Katy Devine as Maeve Sullivan, Ellie Hawkes as Celia Willbond, Leanne Sarah as Tess Moffat and Cerys Beesley as Carolyn Addison, were all well cast and the four actresses concerned brought out the contrasts in each girl’s character very well. Good voice projection especially from Cerys but there is obviously an acoustic problem in the new refurbed theatre and I think all performers and directors need to be aware that when an actor is angled away from the audience the side corridors seem to absorb some of the sound. I would suggest that you dot a few of your cast around the auditorium and the stage and try it out sometime to find out where the dead spots are. Katy gave a very strong and emotional performance when she was sent home – against her will - to take on the role of ‘mother’ to her siblings
The five boys, Benjamin Churchill as Ralph Mayhew, Laurence Kirk as Lloyd, Max Wittwer as Holmes, Ian Wainwright as Edwards and Hedi Ourdani as Will Bennett were also all well cast and, like the girls, the five actors brought out the varied aspects of each boy’s character – especially Laurence who put over the character’s arrogance and violent nature very well. Good projection too from all of you.
To see Peter Dodsworth, your Chairman, on stage instead of his usual position in front of a band, was an eyeopener! Peter, as the extremely pompous Dr Maudsley, you were excellent!
The role of the sympathetic lecturer at Trinity and Girton, Mr. Banks, was portrayed by Dale Carpenter. You managed to convey the fact that you for one realized that girls had brains and were entitled to use them to the full if they wished to. A nicely judged performance Dale.
Mrs. Elizabeth Welsh, Girton’s Mistress, was well played by Kate Wittwer. You brought just the right amount of firmness and dedication to the part and you managed to convey the character’s strong fighting spirit very well.
I must congratulate Sarah Shipley, Minnie the housemaid, on presence of mind! You dealt with the unexpected smashed glass well and safely – and, more to the point, in character. You were probably the only one who could do it as this would have been a natural part of your job. I suppose that Mr. Peck, Ben Sewell, could have sorted it out but it is more the task of the housemaid rather than the gardener! Ben, you had little to do or say but you reacted well to events around you.
Mandy Tabor, who played lecturer Miss Blake, seemed to be completely at home with this character.
Sharon Wilson doubled the roles of the chaperone, Miss Bott, and a shopkeeper and had a good upright Victorian posture, just right for her character, as well as projecting and moving well.
David Rhys, more usually to be seen on stage in a dance role I think, gave a powerful performance as Maeve’s brother Billy.
Other ‘bit’ roles, the three lecturers at Trinity, were well played by Mark Wainwright, Nick Clohessy and Gareth Johnson – you all absolutely reeked of male pomposity and charmlessness, not to mention some bad cases of misogyny! Very well played – I know these little parts are not always easy, but you nailed them gentlemen.
As I am sure you realized the audience was mesmerized – you could have heard a pin drop! A really excellent, and extremely enjoyable, production. This is a very powerful play and you did it justice - congratulations to you all.
Judith Watsham
Regional Rep NODA London 11 and 11A