School Production Of “Arms And The Man”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31753, 9 August 1968, Page 12

School Production Of “Arms And The Man”

“Arms and the Man.” By G. B. Shaw. Linwood High School Drama Club, produced by John Kim. School Hall. August 8-12. Running time: 8.00 to 10.00 p.m.

The first night of the Linwood “Arms and the Man” was largely a display of men —with a minimal amount of “arms.” BluntscMi (Gerry Bahlman), the first military man to appear, bore no signs of recent combat apart from a somewhat intermittent fatigue. Act One proceeded at an erratic pace, and a lot of significant dialogue passed unnoticed. Raina (Vivienne Riddle) despaired of the formidable task of presenting a regal - barbarous - romantic schoolgirl and substituted a pleasant and harmless little girl whose ideals seemed insincere from the start. TJtis meant that the audience had no illusions about what to expect of Sergius (Peter Gib-

son), who looked good and acted with confidence, but nullified his own comment on warfare by unintelligent emphases. Diane Richards, as Louka, was excellent for a young actress; she could, however, have been a little more insolent in the first act. David Round played Petkoff as a straight comic role, with accomplished mannerisms, but his wife (Catherine) was not convincing at the start —she did not know what to do with her hands, and should not have seized Bluutschli by the thigh. All significant faults were, however, rectified in the third act, in which difficult situations were handled competently: the only hitch was a slight awkwardness in the conclusion. John Kim is to be congratulated on a basically successful production of an ambitious play. H. D. McN.