The School Play

[mercia]

to this day I cannot understand the casting. I would have looked lovely in blue.

I detect a note of bitterness

[Anna]

I detect a note of bitterness

Too true mercia! However, when I got a scholarship and she didn't ...... Tables turned.
Strange how your early school days still stay with you, niggling away!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Our school performance of Britten's Noye's Fludde in July 1963



To identify Yours Truly, locate the moon, below which is Mrs Noye. Two faces to the right of her is Ham/EA. Gosh, it's 50 years ago.

[Nick Armstrong]

Our school performance of Britten's Noye's Fludde in July 1963



To identify Yours Truly, locate the moon, below which is Mrs Noye. Two faces to the right of her is Ham/EA. Gosh, it's 50 years ago.

Wonderful EA! That wasn't in Nottingham was it?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Wonderful EA! That wasn't in Nottingham was it?

No. A West Yorkshire boarding school.

[Nick Armstrong]

No. A West Yorkshire boarding school.

There were obv. a lot of similar performances going on.... my dad directed one at the school of which he was head. That would have been a few years later, come to think of it, as I went and remember it!

(He also played The Voice of God!! )

[Resurrection Man]

Wow, EA..that was an ambitious project!

[Mary Chambers]

My schools were girls-only after the age of 7. I have never recovered from my bitterness about usually having to play male parts, simply because I was tallish. I loathed it. I never felt or looked remotely like a boy. Still angry, but I suppose it was better than not being picked to play anything.

Noye's Fludde was composed when I was 18, so I didn't get the chance to be in that as a child, another reason for bitterness

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(He also played The Voice of God!! )

Were you used to that?

[Nick Armstrong]

Were you used to that?

I developed a sense of irony at an early age!

Hello Pa! (in case he's lurking)

[Resurrection Man]

My schools were girls-only after the age of 7. I have never recovered from my bitterness about usually having to play male parts, simply because I was tallish. I loathed it. I never felt or looked remotely like a boy. Still angry, but I suppose it was better than not being picked to play anything.

Noye's Fludde was composed when I was 18, so I didn't get the chance to be in that as a child, another reason for bitterness

And vice versa. All-boys grammar school....picked to play one of the three witches and the maidservant to Lady Macbeth....actually I would have been happy to play Lady Macbeth as her dress was rather glam ...

And because I wore National Health Mark 1's plus somewhat oriental looking eyes, guess who got cast to play the sole Japanese prisoner in a play set at the time of WW II ..the name of which escapes me. I got shot IIRC.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A later one, with my sister as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance.



(A young Dr Tony Biggin as the the Major General.)

[mercia]

the sole Japanese prisoner in a play set at the time of WW II ..the name of which escapes me. I got shot IIRC.

not Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall ? - (which became a film)

[Resurrection Man]

not Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall ? - (which became a film)

Oh, well done. That was it indeed.

[Nick Armstrong]

And vice versa. All-boys grammar school....picked to play one of the three witches and the maidservant to Lady Macbeth....actually I would have been happy to play Lady Macbeth as her dress was rather glam ...

And because I wore National Health Mark 1's plus somewhat oriental looking eyes, guess who got cast to play the sole Japanese prisoner in a play set at the time of WW II ..the name of which escapes me. I got shot IIRC.

I'm finding the trajectory of your stage career somewhat confusing!!



Sorry to hear about your violent demise (and the specs, to which I was condemned too, until I managed to negotiate the purchase of some alternative, v stylish - so I thought at the time - stainless steel ones. Curiously, identical to these, modelled by someone who went on make infinitely more cash than their lucky charms brought me... )