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The
Cicala Players in: The Master Key by Wilfred Massey, Ride a Tiger by Anthony
Booth and Holiday Eve by Philip King and Falkland L Cary Staged: - 01/05/1961
at Chanticleer Theatre London They say that three is a
magic number. Good things (and bad), for instance come in threes,
and even when there hasn’t been a bus in an hour in the pouring rain,
suddenly three come along all at once! In 1961 the Cicala Players
decide to stage THREE one act plays each night of a
three-night run. The review article in Martins Bank Magazine is
written in such a way, that we can’t really separate out each of the
productions, so here they are, all together… |
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These two parts were
in Ride a Tiger and the quality of the play was so dramatic as to call
forth the very best from the actors. Mignonne Paice as the mother has never
acted better andshe gave a most moving portrayal. The engaged couple, played
by Pat Childs and Reg. Rowlands, were natural and entirely convincing in
their handling of the situation created by the razor boy and his girl friend.
George Kent portrayed the priest sympathetically and without falling into the
traps which beset this type of part for most amateurs. The
comedy Holiday Eve was pleasantly uproarious after the drama of its
predecessor. Clive Hamilton as the hen-pecked father found a part which
suited him perfectly, as did Susan Feather who had to do the nagging. |
The Master Key Ian
Andrews Patricia
Longstaff John
Collins Jacqueline
Kenvin And Rosina
O’Brien |
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Ann Fraser and Alan
Apps, as their two children, hit off the parts to a "T" and Dorothy
Elgar was attractively and pleasantly seductive as the girl friend of the
son. There were no weaknesses in the acting of this excellent little play or
of Ride a Tiger. The first play to be put on—The Master Key, had
us a bit worried, however. It was a difficult play in the hands of amateurs
who can rarely work up a love scene convincingly in the short space of a
one-acter. John Collins did his best as the pseudo-house agent who falls in
love at first sight with the house owner, played by Rosina O'Brien, but it
never really got across the footlights. |
Ride A Tiger Pat
Childs Mignonne
Paice Reg
Rowlands George
Kent Peter
J Henry And Rosina
O’Brien |
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The best bit of acting
was that of lan Andrews who, by his demeanour, effectively threw suspicion on
himself. He was well supported by Patricia Longstaff who might not have been
suspected otherwise. Jacqueline Foster, who had the job of acting suspiciously,
had to do it so obviously as to cause the audience from the beginning to
dismiss her part as an author's contrivance. The real crook, played by
Jacqueline Kenvin, managed the job very well and kept her secret to the end. Overall, however, the whole presentation was a bit wooden
and not in the same class as a play or in the acting of it, as the other two. |
Holiday Eve Alan
Apps Susan
Feather Clive
Hamilton Ann
Fraser And Dorothy
Elgar |
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Violet Lewsey is to be
complimented on the results of her efforts as producer, and Ride a
Tiger was, technically, one of the best things the Players have ever
done. A special word of congratulation is also due to Pamela
Bodell and lan Andrews who, after studying something of the art of make-up
during the past winter, did the make-up of the Players on this occasion,
which was the first time it has been done by members of the Company.
Sep3M |
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