The Cicala Players - We Proudly Present

The Cicala Players in We Proudly Present by Ivor Novello

Staged: 4-5 April 1952 at the Rudolph Steiner Theatre Park Road London NW1

For its review of “We Proudly Present”, Martins Bank Magazine uses up a fair few column inches to make a comparison between what it refers to as the Bank’s THREE dramatic societies. (It would seem the output of the Manchester Players is, sadly, insignificant for this purpose!) At this stage in the life of the Cicala Players there is perhaps something to be said for a good old “compare and contrast”. We do wonder if some members across the country might have left a little over-criticised when they read the review, especially by remarks such as “a considerable number of AVERAGE amateurs”! Amongst the Cicala, Argosy and North Eastern Players, each group has stand-out actors, and these are discussed below in some detail, but the article is at least halfway through before we are able to learn something about the play everyone came to see - “We Proudly Present”. Not for the first time, the Cicala Players have chosen a play that requires the talents of a large cast, to do justice to the writing of no less an author than Ivor Novello himself. The plot of this comedy centres around the production of a stage play, and the interaction of actors and producers and a leading lady who is something of a “diva” with designs on being a great actress…

We are sometimes asked how the three dramatic Societies in the Bank compare one with another. Because the comparison is interesting, we think that members of all three societies may be interested in our conclusions, which are entirely our own, and are based on our observations through having attended every show in each district since the Magazine was started in 1946. For an all-round performance of consistently high standard we think that the North-Eastern Players come out top, though they voluntarily “rested” their stars last time in order to give the rising generation a chance, and this resulted in a temporary lowering of their past standards.
Helena Currie, Arthur Odell, June Howden, Joan Cowell, Isabel Simblett, John Evans and Stella Brown
For individual performance we think that London have it; Renee Forder, Ernest Yates, Isabel Simblett, Joan Cowell and Pat Machin being quite outstanding, and this takes no account of one or two who have acted in the past but have now left the Bank. On the other hand, brilliance at one end is offset by some marked mediocrity at the other, due largely to the difficulty of getting male amateurs in sufficient numbers in the London area. Because of this, one doesn’t get the “balanced” performance which Newcastle seems able to stage. Liverpool’s record has been patchy. There are some extremely good individual performers such as Maureen Dempster, Howell Jones, Bill Brookes, Sydney Rimmer, Eric Wylie and Norman Hubbard and a considerable number of “average” amateurs, but fewer mediocre performers than London possesses. In our opinion, Liverpool has beaten London twice, and equalled Newcastle once. London, we think, has equalled Newcastle twice. All this seems to add up to placing Newcastle first, but if we had to award Oscars, we should give them to Renee Forder, Isabel Simblett, Maureen Dempster, Nora Wilkie, Ernest Yates. Paul Myrton, Howell Jones, Sydney Rimmer and Stephen Futers. At the same time, only Liverpool has so far maintained an operatic society and put on a first class show each year; and only Liverpool has produced a singer of Covent Garden quality. (Margaret Groome is on the waiting list for Covent Garden.) Now we have asked for it.
Ronald Atkins and Isabel Simblett	Ernest Yates, Jimmy Wright and Tony Garland
But as regards Ivor Novello’s “ We Proudly Present,” which was performed for two nights, April 4th and 5th, at the Rudolph Steiner Theatre, Park Road, N.W.I, the cast was a large one and the producer, G. Craig Batey, undoubtedly got away with it, both houses being full and enthusiastic. He owed his success to the excellence of his two lady principals, who carried the weaker members, and when they were on together, as was frequently the case, they completely held the stage. Forsaking her usual “glamour” roles for that of the efficient secretary Isabel Simblett gave us quite one of the best performances of her career. Renee Forder, as the designing leading lady, so entered into the part that we felt quite timid at meeting her behind the scenes afterwards and so relieved when we did to find that she hadn’t really changed, but was still Renee Forder. Arthur Odell and George Kent played the parts of budding theatrical managers and managed to convey the impression of newness to the job successfully. Tony Garland as the office boy gave the audience their first bit of comic relief and the entry of Joan Cowell, as the mid-European actress, carried the comedy still further.		Craig Batey, Renee Forder, Arthur Odell, George Kent, Stella Brown and Isabel Simblett
It was one of her best performances and she was clapped every time she completed a sequence. June Howden’s impression of the young actress was, we felt, just a little too much on the sweet and unsophisticated side, more convincing later on than at the beginning. Craig Batey’s appearance as the author was so brief that all one can do is to pay tribute to his “arty” appearance. Stella Brown always gets her laughs, but she always is Stella. We wonder how it would do to cast her in a role where she had to portray a character quite different from those she has hitherto played. Ernest Yates as the French producer earned full marks for a delightful little character study. John Evans, as the leading man, was not happily cast to play opposite the power of Renee Forder’s impersonation but his weakness was to some extent offset by the strength of Helena Currie’s performance as his wife, a part she played admirably. Ronald Atkins as the man from Irene's was convincing but Roger Botten’s effort as the Stage Manager lacked fire. Allan Whitmey looked and acted the part of the Theatrical Manager but on the night, we attended, his performance was spoiled by a succession of bad prompts.