Perrott Hill 4


Memory does not really work in straight lines. If anything, you recall things in circles, returning to the present and then back around into the past.

Before I leave Perrott Hill, I must make mention of one of my greatest triumphs at P.H.S.: my production of Arsenic and Old Lace. This three act play was never written for children, so it was a bit ambitious, but I am proud of the way that my young cast rose to the challenge.

Just in case you do not know the plot, I will briefly sum it up for you. Two elderly sisters, Abby and Martha Brewster, magnificently played by Victoria Hume and Claire Morgan-Smith, live in an old house with their loony nephew, Teddy (Eoin Roe), who thinks that he is President Teddy Roosevelt. 

Abby and Martha are well known for their kindness and good deeds. At the start of the play, Abby is having tea with the vicar, the Reverend Harper (George Russell). Another nephew, Mortimer, is a drama critic and in love with the vicar’s daughter, Elaine. Adam Ogilvy was brilliant as Mortimer and Sarah Colinsky was great as his fiancée, Elaine. I always enjoyed Elaine’s line, “I love you, you dope!” 


Things really start going a bit mad in the Brewster home when we find out that one of the sisters’ “charities” is to poison lonely old men, like Mr Gibbs (Richard Rankin). Then the audience find out that Abby and Martha’s efforts at euthanasia rivalled by those of another nephew, Jonathan Brewster.
 
Jonathan is supposed to look like Boris Karloff and his favourite hobby is killing people. With his unsuccessful plastic surgery that was really some hard work from the make-up department, Matthew Kind made a suitably menacing and maniacal multiple murderer, aided by his drunken sidekick, Dr Einstein. 

 
Robin Sanders is half-French, but he did a great German accent as the inebriated doctor. Despite the bumbling incompetence of the local police (Toby Fowlston, Alex Moore, Mark White), eventually Jonathan is recognized and arrested by the tough Lieutenant Rooney (Dennis Cuff). The old ladies go off with Teddy to an asylum with Mr Witherspoon (Tom Sutton).

Sometimes a play just “works”. The script is good, the cast bring out the best in each other and the audience is supportive. I am deeply grateful to the hard-working boys and girls who made Arsenic and Old Lace a theatrical triumph and one of the highlights of my teaching career. Here are a few more photos of the play.



 
   







 

Comments

  1. Anonymous19 July 2026 at 09:29

    This was a terrific show, so well staged. I think Salad Days was before my time, but I remember this, South Pacific and The Three Musketeers on the extended stage in the Grundy Hall.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the hippopotamus19 July 2026 at 10:47

    I cannot take all of the credit (or even most of it). As the director, I was very lucky to have a talented and hard-working cast of young actors and actresses. They supported and encouraged each other.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Whale of a Trip

Image
No, it's not migrants arriving in Italy   We decided that we wanted to go on the Whale Shark Tour. We have done several other tours in the Philippines and really this was the only one we had not done. The hotel told us that we had to get up at 5.30am, which we were not too keen about, and they said that the trip would cost us 1,200 pesos each. They also told us that we would probably back at the Bee Farm by 2 or maybe 3pm. Well, we duly got up at the right time and took a tuktuk, one of those three-wheelers that does a passable impression of a WW2 Bren Gun carrier.   We soon arrived at Alona Beach, on another part of Panglau island, where the Whale Shark trip was supposed to start. A couple of Filipinos paddled us out to the ship in what looked like a plastic box. More than two hours later, we were still at Alona Beach, waiting for the trip to start! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, me hearties! Waiting for our turn to see the whale shark s We finally l...
Read more

Educaring, 2

Image
Not so long ago, I wrote a post for my blog called Educaring . Please do not misunderstand me. I really do believe that teachers, youth workers, parents (and indeed anyone involved with young people) all have a duty to protect children and teenagers, to keep them safe. As I argued in my previous posting, I also believe that the task of protecting children is becoming more and more difficult - almost impossible, in fact. Yes, the Internet has a lot to do with it, I am sure, but there is another problem that is hardly ever discussed.  In a nutshell, anyone who genuinely cares about children finds it very hard to imagine how evil and how subtle child molesters and pedophiles really are. I think that is probably why many teachers and parents just do not know when a pedophile is "grooming" a child and why they often do not believe it, even when confronted with the unpleasant truth. Michael Green at Windlesham House School I knew Michael Green when I was teaching at Windlesh...
Read more

On the Cards, Part 1

Image
Getting our new Bulgarian residency cards from the Microwave Oven Woman Rejoice! Let's celebrate. Hallelujah! At long last, the Microwave Woman has given us our new Bulgarian residency cards (BRCs). As a special treat, just in case you do not know what a BRC looks like, here is my old one.  My dear wife suggested that I should "black out" certain bits, as there are lots of evil people out there on the Internet, all gathering my personal and financial details in order to swindle me or involve me in some dreadful scandal or some such nonsense. Of course, no one who reads my blog could ever do such a nasty thing!   Getting our new BRCs means that we can go ahead with our applications for our Russian visas. Then, maybe two or three weeks later, our passports will be returned to us, with new Russian visas stuck into them. The other good news is that the insurance agent in Dragoman did not lose my car registration document. When she had finished giving me my new car ...
Read more