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 Martins
Bank Society of the Arts – Drama Section in:
The
Cradle Song by Gregorio and Maria Martinez Sierra
Staged:
20 and 21 May 1947 at the Y.M.C.A. theatre, Birkenhead
The image below shows SEVENTEEN actors on stage, and this must surely indicate a complex production by
the Society of the Arts Drama Section. The Cradle Song tackles an age old
issue, the abandonment of a baby and its care in a convent. This all seems
like heavy stuff for a night out at the theatre in Birkenhead, but Martins
Bank Magazine seems to like the choice of play and its presentation to a
paying audience.
Betty Jackson is singled out for giving a moving and
“wistful” performance, and there is some debate about whether some actors
might have conveyed an emotion better with a facial expression than with
words, but on the whole the review is upbeat and positive. As if learning
such a complex script with so many characters wasn’t difficult enough, one of
the actors has to age by EIGHTEEN years during the play! Admirable
indeed, as forty-five hours’ hard graft each week for the Bank was probably
enough to age anyone. It seems that some people led VERY interesting lives in Liverpool in 1949…
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 This play, by
Gregorio and Maria Martinez Sierra, performed at the Y.M.C.A. theatre,
Birkenhead, on May 20th and 21st, has an international reputation and has
been translated into several languages. It is unorthodox in that the plot
is slight and the action slow. It is a thing of light and shade, of moods
and character studies revolving around the impact on the life of a convent
of a baby abandoned to the care of the nuns. Betty Jackson, as Sister
Joanna of the Cross, who mothers the baby, gave a beautiful and moving performance,
reaching heights of wistfulness as she listened to Teresa (now grown up)
vivaciously confiding her intense love for the man she is leaving the
convent to marry.
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 Marjorie Balshaw Betty Jackson Joan Thomas Barbara Phillips
Marjorie Brown Auriol Balshaw Kenneth Learoyd Joan Half Bernice McGuirk
Sydney N Rimmer Thea Bower Maureen Dempster Sheila Boote
Dilys Hughes Margaret Halewood Kathleen Horsburgh Afessa Paisley
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Marjorie
Balshaw played the part of Teresa supremely well and Kenneth Learoyd’s
rendering of her lover, Antonio, was, in its deference to the sisters, just
right. Thea Bower rendered the part of the Prioress with great dignity, and
her diction was faultless. Maureen Dempster portrayed the Vicaress. The
harshness of the interpretation seemed a little out of keeping with the
prevailing odour of sanctity and would have been more convincing if
confined to the facial expression only, but she certainly succeeded in being
forbidding, an attitude which threw into startling relief the gay
irresponsibility of Sister Marcella, played by Barbara Phillips. Sister
Maria Jesus, played by Joan Hall, scored her greatest success in the second
act, when the frosts of eighteen winters had matured her since her
appearance in the first scene. Nessa Paisley, as the Mistress of the
Novices, was very pleasing in her interpretation of the part, and Sisters
Segrario (Auriel Balshaw), Tornera (Bernice McGuirk) and Inez (Joan Thomas)
each rendered distinct and polished little character studies. Sydney Rimmer
as the old doctor was, as usual, excellent. Mention must also be made of
the silent nuns, Sheila Boote, Marjorie Brown, Margaret Halewood, Kathleen
Horsburgh and Dilys Hughes, whose presence was so essential, and whose work
in making their costumes was as great as that of the speaking characters.
To act without speaking is an art in itself, and they played their parts
most commendably. The producer was Mr. Sydney N. Rimmer.
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