2 minute read
Form Plays
from Oct 1972
by StPetersYork
the Blind Association, himself blind, his wife and Mr. Lacey, who was also blind. He thanked all who had helped to raise the money and had collected the silver paper. David Grice, the Head of St. Peter's, and Charles Anelay, the Head of St. Olave's, then each handed over a cheque to Mr. Bailey, the total amount being £290. Mr. Bailey thanked the School for their tremendous effort, and talked to those present about the training of guide dogs. He then presented a framed photograph of an alsatian, Saxon, the guide dog sponsored by the School.
Mr. Bailey drew the raffle, and though many of the prizes were won by friends of the School, an enormous cake was won by Mcllroy of School House.
G.M.S.
THE FIRST CIRCLE
By Solzhenitsyn, abridged for play, and performed in June, 1972, in Hall by MB'
The play opens in complete darkness, and the narrator (B. Creasy) tells us that we are about to see some of the life which was shared by the prisoners at Mavrino, a special prison camp, in Russia. Special indeed —for its prisoners are all geniuses: scientists "employed" to invent
gadgets for trapping people for crimes of indiscretion—the same crimes as those at Mavrino had committed five or ten years ago—such as criticising Stalin in private conversation.
As the lights go up, we see some newcomers being introduced to the "old hands" of Mavrino: to them, after having experienced labour and concentration camps, Mavrino is like heaven—but we are shrewdly informed that this is no heaven, but the first stage of hell, the First
Circle imagined by Dante.
By and large, the diction was good—with especially good, clear words from Yakonov (J. Thomas). The lighting was simple, and yet very effective, and the costumes, even if a little ill-fitting, also added to the effect.
Probably the most moving moment was when Spiridon (P. Widdicombe) gives a letter from the "outside world" to Nerzhin (M. Haw) to read; and the conditions of his relations are deteriorating, and Spiridon is moved to snatch the letter away from Nerzhin, and screw it up; an
emotional scene which was indeed well conveyed.
Our last thought was for the future; we were led to wonder what would happen to all the prisoners, with the final three spotlights focusing on an excellent barbed-wire window, a portrait of "our friend up there" and a dejected prisoner; we were led to realise how lucky we, in today's
