THE SCHOOL PLAY, 1944

" JULIUS CIESAR."

Julius Caesar was surely one of the greatest men who have ever lived, and it has been said that his very greatness makes him an impossible subject for dramatic treatment. No stage is big enough to accommodate his greatness, and no dramatist could attempt to do him justice in three hours. Shakespeare, obviously conscious of this ,has made his living Caesar a shadow of the real man, depicting only those features of his character which brought about his downfall, and it is only the spirit of Caesar, which lives on after his assassination, which approaches the greatness of the Caesar of History.

In some ways, this a help in production, for whilst it does not make the part of Caesar himself any easier to play, it does mean that the play is not made or marred by the acting of one person in a role of supreme importance. Indeed, as we look back over our own production, we find it impossible to single out any one individual for special _praise. Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony— they were all excellent, but Shakespeare had so arranged the play that none could overtop the others. And therefore " Julius Caesar " was a good choice, for 'we pride ourselves upon the homogeneity of our performances. It would have been a poor choice had we been relying on the talents of one or two, or even half a dozen good actors.

Everybody agrees that " Julius Caesar " set a new high level, and that is no mean achievement when the cast includes so large a proportion of the population of the School. Over fifty boys appeared on the stage, and those amongst them who had a great number of lines to learn and speak will be the first to agree that the Crowd deserves the first mention. In the scene of orations over the body of Caesar, much of the credit must inevitably go to Brutus, and even more to Antony, for their skilful interpretation of Shakespeare's rhetoric—but it would have been useless without the intelligent,• whole-hearted and intensely vocal support of the Crowd. There was nothing wooden about this crowd, for even their backs, as we saw them from the audience,'were the backs of individuals, each with a mind of his own, and that mind fixed upon the furthering of his own good cause.

That is how Shakespeare saw the " many-headed monster," and it says much for the skill of Anelay and Radford that they were able, with their eloquent persuasion, to carry them through the many changes of mood which Shakespeare prescribes. Well might Antony exclaim :- " Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot," for he had done his job well. Indeed, it was not the only job he did well, and we remember particularly his very difficult scene with the Conspirators, immediately after Caesar's death. The famous apology to Caesar at the end of that scene, with its crescendo to " Cry Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war ; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial." lost nothing of its power and .beauty at Anelay's hands.

Radford was a good Brutus, as impressive in remorse as he was in triumph. There was dignity and culture in his performance which promises well for the future (for this was his first major part). And Dench's portrayal of Cassius showed us clearly how much Shakespeare's Brutus owes to Cassius. There was vigour and finish about his performance, and we almost (but not quite) forgot that all his acting so far has been in female parts. He has successfully weathered that most difficult period of a boy's acting career, and we hope to see him as successful now that he has " reached man's estate," as he always was as a woman.

Simpson's Caesar was an excellent piece of work. To convey the superstition, egotism, ambition and the " falling sickness " of which Shakespeare

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compounds of Caesar, and at the same time the greatness and regal dignity which was able to work on after his death—that is no mean achievement, and it is sufficient to say that Simpson did achieve it.

What of the rest of the cast ? They were all good, and to mention individuals from so large a number would be impossible. Casca's good voice and bearing could not fail to obtain a sympathetic response, and at the opposite extreme, the directness and simplicity of Lucius made his scenes with Brutus most effective. Let us say no more of the rest, than that they were all good, and the sincerest compliment we can pay the performers in a school play is that nobody fell below the high standard set by the main characters.

Finally, it is necessary to put on record the skill and stagecraft of Mr. Burgess and Mr. Fawcett, without which the play would have been impossible. The simple and elegant proportions of the setting concealed extraordinary skill in using every square inch of a very small stage. (The backcloth of the Plains of Philippi, with its clever lighting, was most effective.) Even then, Mr. Burgess must have felt that the number of square inches was hopelessly inadequate for his crowded entrances and exits, and yet never once was this apparent, and there was never a clumsy moment in the whole of the play. There lies the secret of the success of the production, because without that skill, the excellent standard of acting would have been of no avail. Characters :

triumvers after the death of Julius Caesar Conspirators against

Julius Caesar tribunes - a Senator • a teacher of Rhetoric • a poet • servant to Brutus friends to Brutus and Cassius servants to Brutus servant to Cassius wife to Julius Caesar • wife to Brutus

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• - P. Simpson • - W. P. Anelay • - L. D. Edinger • P. W. Ellis • • G. A. Radford • • J. D. Dench • - M. G. B. Jones J. D. Taylor-Thompson - • P. A. Miles N. G. L. R. McDermid • • P. R. Sykes - G. R. Claybourn • • F. P. Baker • P. N. H. Moreton • • J. D. Swale • D. J. Pallant - W. S. Samuels • N. B. Burgess • F. P. Baker • - P. B. Toyer • G. R. Claybourn • J. C. M. Rayson • • G. C. I. Harker - D. H. Tate • J. C. Hilton • e • • - • R. L. Banister • J. H. Amos, A. A. Camfield, T. P. Thomas Citizens, Senators, Soldiers, etc.—J. P. Blake, P. C. Brindley, C. C. Clement,

J. McD. L. Dook, D. S. Endecott, R. J. Frater, C. D. Goode, R. M. T.

Goodwin, G. E. Grainger, G. W. J. Griffiths, D. A. Hopkins, R. I. Kemble,

E. C. d'O. Lees, J. B. Mortimer, T. G. Murray, P. R. Penty, M. A. J.

Rignall, A. C. Rodger, C. F. Smith, G. W. Smith, J. E. Stuart, D. E.

Warren, K. W. Wilson. • The Play produced by Leslie Burgess. The Setting designed and executed by P. P. Noble .Fawcett, assisted by

R. Hawkins, F. J. Chadwick, J. McD. L. Dook, D. W. Knowlson, E. D.

McKinney, P. A. Speight.

Julius Caesar • Marcus Antonius Octavius Caesar Lepidus Marcus Brutus Cassius Casca Decius Brutus Trebonius • Cinna Metellus Cimber Flavius Marullus Cicero Artemidorus • A Soothsayer • Cinna Lucius Lucilius Messala Varro Claudius

Pindarus Calpurnia Portia A Cobbler Messengers