setwork. While the play was useful, performances were generally poor, and the non-critical viewer stood every chance of being misled. Another theatre evening included a visit to the school of a touring group with a turgid and hamhanded presentation of the correspondence between Mrs Campbell and Bernard Shaw — "Dear Liar". May we be pro tected against this kind of show in the future. A spirited and thought-provoking adaptation of 'Lear' completed the year's theatrical programme. Here was an attempt to bring Shakespeare to life that worked most effectively. T.A. Dreimatic Society Productions "TOM SAWYER" During the final week of the second term, the Dramatic Society presented the musical "Tom Sawyer",produced by Mr Brian Tucker with musical director Mr John Harper. The setting of the play, the small town of St Petersburg on the Mississippi, was presented in a semi-cartoon fashion, and the music had a distinct Western flavour. Joining the large cast of boys were a number of girls from the Hillcrest High School and a number of younger girls from the Kearsney community. The lead role of Tom was invested with a cheeky, if slightly lugubrious, charm by Malcolm Hilton, and his foil, Huck Finn, was competently portrayed by Andrew Murphie, who emerged as the most convincing of the characters.The rest of the cast handled their roles with vary ing degrees of success. The play had its charm,as indicated by the obvious enjoyment of the audiences, but it lacked something in tightness of control. This was due partly to the lack of experienced talent in the school as well as the lack of actual rehearsal time on stage — few people who have not been associated with productions realise that rehearsals alone can take up to a hundred hours of intensive work on the stage. Very few times could be arranged for the entire cast to be available together, and then half of that time was spent in practising the music. It seems a pity that the volume of the singing in Kearsney's musicals can is>. i * TO m Malcolm Hilton as'Tom Sawyer'. be increased only by putting a sometimes cumbersomely iarge chorus onto the stage. Some of the scenes had spectacular appeal with some good chorus settings, and the play, episodic by nature, seemed to fit into a pattern of animated pictures rather than a flowing unit. Probably the best received number was the song composed by Mr Harper and written by Mr Tucker especially for this production:"Hush! Hush!",sung by Tom and Huck. A measure of the popularity of Kearsney productions is the very good attendance at the performances, and the increase in demand for seats after the first night's showing. "Tom Sawyer" was no exception, playing to full audiences for three nights, withmany people unable to get bookings. For all its faults, "Tom Sawyer" was enthusiastically received by its audiences. B.TUCKER SSte... m I ■ ■ S iii — Finalrehearsal: The cast of'Tom Sawyer'. 18
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