"Janus" Spring 1957
"The Mikado"
As Nanki-Poo, House, in a fairly difficult part, did well in a vocal style somewhat far removed, I believe, from his customary idiom, while Davies, as Ko-Ko, produced a pleasingly whimsical interpretation of the Lord High Executioner's role. A good voice is of course, an asset on these occasions, and McCulloch, a singer of increasing ability and self-assurance, brought his customary efficiency to the conjuring up of a very adequate Mikado.
FROM MANY PLACES (one-act plays)
Three of the plays were produced by boys - McCulloch, Workman and Davies. These three have been leading actors in all our productions, and it was good to see them able now to take charge of the acting of others. But we were not denied the pleasure of seeing them on the stage themselves as actors, and it might be debated whether they gave us greater enjoyment as producers or the produced.
"Bound East for Cardiff" - Eugene O'Neill
This play, produced by McCulloch, moved rather slowly - a fault, however, rather to be imputed to the author than to the producer or actors. Szepesy gave a good account of the dying Yank, and Bauer of the rough, kindly Driscoll. All the players tended to be rather inaudible especially on the first night, and the use of the spotlight on the sick man was over melodramatic. But these were minor blemishes on a very fair production of a difficult play.
"Janus" Spring 1956
"The Devil's Disciple" is a difficult play to stage effectively, but in most cases the cast tried most expertly to get into their parts. Because of his fine performances in the past, we now tend to expect a very high standard of acting from McCulloch, and in this respect we were not disappointed. McCulloch is a "natural" on the stage, and with the flicker of his eyebrows, the wave of his hand or the well-placed sigh he really lives his character. The debonair, devil-may-care attitude of the play's hero, Richard Dudgeon, is particularly suitable to McCulloch's style of acting (compare his last part as Ivan Alexandrovitch Hlestakov in the "Government Inspector") and his performance was a pleasure to watch. |