The County Grammar School Magazine 1970

But he meant far more, and this was where the play fell short of its otherwise highstandard . Everyman himself, as vital as the Floor Manager to the success of thepiece, was convincing only in the scene with his mother . He was the eternal naughtyboy, and it takes more than a naughty Peter Pan to commit Everyman's sins, to bea lover, a parent, a soldier, a career-man, and eventually the despair of the surgeon,the psychoanalyst and the divine . He is meant to be not one man but all men, andit would have helped him to have changed his appearance, quite radically ifnecessary, to suit the scene . For the message of the play to come across we must, atleast in part, identify ourselves with him and feel that "there but for the grace ofGod go 1" . The medieval "Everyman" harrowed its audience, terrorising it intoleading a better life, and MacNeice's play, to achieve this effect, even with the aid ofthe superb setting, needs a hero with the stature of a Macbeth or an Oedipus . This, ofcourse, is the difficulty most school productions face . A schoolboy with the necessarygifts is rare, and the producer has either to change the interpretation to fit the actoror try to mould the actor to fit the part . Mr . Miller chose the former course, and whoshall blame him? And Graham Seaman deserves credit for the sheer effort he putinto his performance .The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly "The Enquiry Office" . It didnot help make MacNeice's play more convincing, in fact the second discordant notewas that the middle of "One for the Grave" was omitted when with judicious cutsit could have been effective . But I would not have missed Anthony Bradstreet's andPaul Coghlan's duologue for anything . The situation was so ludicrous and yet solifelike, the one character embodying all that one associates with pompous, bullying,petty officialdom, and the other the sheep-like inhibited victim on which it feeds . Atriumph of make-up was achieved, too, in Coghlan's moustache, a small thing initself, but it contributed to his self-confidence, and made his later appearance as theAnalyst seem quite another person . A few subtle touches like this on Everymancould have made all the difference .Mr . Miller is to be congratulated on a cleverly conceived, meticulouslydirected (especially "The Enquiry Office") and effectively staged production . It madefor a most enjoyable evening, a theatrical experience with a difference, and with oneor two outstanding moments .R .J .G .PRESS REPORTIngenious School Version of EverymanEveryman is told that he must die, and in a few hours has to show that hislife has been worthwhile -that is the theme of One For The Grave, by the lateLouis MacNeice .It was performed at Wymondham College last night by pupils of the CountyGrammar School .The location MacNeice chooses is a television studio . The college games halllends itself perfectly to this, with the director - the Creator - in charge of productionfrom a lofty balcony, and Death and Birth - in charge on the floor (Earth) .Graham Seaman as Everyman innocently presents himself in the studio to betold of his death and to be led through the ages and moods of man .Career, conscience, common sense, forgetfulness, freewill - they are allfeatured, and Seaman deals nonchalantly with them until conscience and freewilleventually lay him in his grave .