Christchurch B.H.S. Group Present Play Well

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30477, 26 June 1964, Page 12

Christchurch B.H.S. Group Present Play Well

The outstanding feature of Christchurch Boys’ High School’s production of “The Long and the Short and the Tall”, which began a threenight season last night, was undoubtedly the well-con-ceived and strongly-realised characterisations.

The play covers the last hours in the lives of eight men trapped in a hut in the Malayan jungle during World War 11. The students who played these parts all had the ability to create a distinctive personality: the Cockney who had to be the odd man out; the Sergeant who had to submerge his private doubts in his identity as a leader; the emotional Scotsman; the tough Corporal; and the very ordinary Japanese soldier whose main concern was to save the photographs of his wife and children. All the cast moved, spoke and gestured as though their assumed personalities were in fact their own.

Questions that remain important long after the immediate issues of war are forgotten were suitably highlighted by the production. Why do men go to war, even when they don’t have to? Is

it easier to kill in wartime? What does it mean to be a leader? The cast showed on many occasions that the lines they spoke were not just words in a play, but an argument, over things which they felt were supremely important.

This concern created sufficient tension to keep the play interesting from beginning to end—no mean achievement for a relatively inexperienced cast. It was also pleasing to see how well laughter wa£ taken into account —little of the dialogue was lost, which was surprising considering the number of funny lines the play has. The cast’s inexperience showed most, perhaps, in a failure to maintain full contact with the audience, in a lack of variety in pace, and in the missing of the full impact of many of the climaxes in the play’s action. Over-all, though, this was a worthwhile production of a play well worth doing. The cast was: Brian Taylor, David Jensen, Roger Arnold, Chris Mortlock, Simon Mortlock, Neil Armstrong; Brian Shillito and Cameron Smart. Mr N. Wilson was the producer. —P.R.S.