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some of his comments to the king, but he was very good in the storm scenes ; one could almost feel the rain pelting down on his crouching back. A notable feature of his performance was his ready facial reactions to the speaking of other characters, expressing varied emotions simply by the raising of an eyebrow or the set of his mouth. As the foppish Oswald, P. Galea did well on his first appearance, with his mincing walk and studied gestures. A lot more could have been made of the character by someone more experienced, but a beginning has to be made somewhere and this was as good an opportunity as any. C. Doyle served two roles as the duke of Burgundy and the Doctor adequately, though as a medical man he lacked an air of competence. N. Tasker appeared as both the king of France and the Herald and did so well enough.
At the beginning of the play, F. Hayes, as Regan stood stiffly and tended to recite his lines. He soon overcame this nervousness, however, and in the end gave one of the best performances of the afternoon. He always spoke clearly and with ample expressiveness. His scene with Goneril and the king, when Regan joins herself to her sister against their father, was excellently done, callous and venomous. There is a very promising actor here. P. Geoghegan played Goneril and did so very competently. He, too, began somewhat stiffly, but he quickly lost this and spoke and moved fluently. Where it was called for, he was suitably vicious and calculating, although his voice was too light and his build too slight to make him wholly a convincing study of a masterful, hot-blooded virago. A. Allen's Cordelia was pleasing and sensitive, though lacking colour. In the first scene there should have been more fire and passion, but in the later, quieter scenes he was very good as the compassionate, loyal, 'kind and dear princess'. Allen had a difficult part, a little beyond his present range, but there
was much to commend in his performance and both he and Hayes, when more mature, will emerge as actors of uncommon ability.
On the technical side, the producer was excellently served by the stage and lighting staff. The use of steps down to the orchestra pit as an extra exit and entrance was ingenious and effective. The simple, sombre sets helped to reflect the mood of the play and to project the colourful costumes. The lighting was skilfully timed with the action and helped effectively to heighten the drama, particularly in the storm scenes. There were only two minor technical faults ; once, when a batten was not faded in time and on another occasion a trumpet sounded before its cue. One wondered, incidentally, why the line `Upon these eyes of thine I'll set my foot' was left in since Cornwall blinded Gloucester with his hands. The costumes looked very well from the auditorium, although Oswald's gear was out of period with the Plantagenet dress of all the other characters. Edgar's helmet would have puzzled a medieval armourer and Albany should not have worn his dirk in his belt indoors, but suspended from it. The make-up by Fr Piercy was very good indeed, if one may except Poor Tone being left so clean.
Fr Armishaw has now extended his Shakespeare repertoire to six plays and everyone who has seen them will know how high a standard they have reached. The best compliment we can pay hi n and the cast is to say that, all in all, this was the best yet. Tile frequent applause which punctuated this performance of King Lear was evidence enough that he succeeded in his aim of showing the best drama at its best. Within the obvious limits of school productions, and within the further limitation of the relatively small numbers at Cotton, it is to be doubted if there is better to be seen anywhere.