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 The Cicala Players – in
Bonaventure by Charlotte Hastings
Staged:
November 1952 at the Fortune Theatre
London
 In something
of a departure from the norm, the Cicala Players decide to offer a production
that involves a condemned woman, some nuns, flooding, heightened suspense, AND Norwich! It almost makes you wish you could journey
back to the Autumn of 1952 to see what it was all about! “Bonaventure” by
Charlotte Hastings seems on the face of it to be of heavy subject matter, and
to have a plot that requires the audience to be able both to follow AND keep
up with. The play does however produce a star, in the form of Renée Forder
whose performance is assessed in glowing terms, and whose acting ability is
heavily praised in the following article from Martins Bank Magazine’s Spring
1953 issue. In the opinion of the
Magazine’s reviewer, Miss Forder reached the summit of her personal acting
achievement with her portrayal of sister Mary Bonaventure. The writer, quite
so generous when commenting on the performance of one of the other members of
the Cicala Players…
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 The choice of the Cicala Players for their autumn
1952 show was a breakaway from anything they have previously done. The
setting for Bonaventure, by
Charlotte Hastings, is a convent to which are driven for refuge through floods
caused by the bursting of a dyke a young woman recently tried and convicted
for murder, and the male and female escort who are accompanying her from
the Court of Appeal in London to the condemned cell at Norwich. The mishap
occurs a few miles from Norwich, quite close to the scene of the
crime. Being convinced of her
innocence the flaw in the evidence which one of the nuns, Sister
Bonaventure, works ceaselessly to find the flaw in the evidence which
eventually brings the crime home to the quarter to which it belongs.
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Renée Forder and
Isabel Simblett
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It is a difficult play for amateurs:
there are several lengthy dialogues in which drama must be heightened and
suspense sustained. Dialect also
enters into it and the character parts are difficult. We feel that it is no exaggeration to say
that by her performance as Sister Mary Bonaventure Renée Forder established
herself as the most polished, versatile and talented amateur actress the
Bank societies have so far produced. We have seen her in every production
since the war, in all types of part, and in this she reached the summit of
her achievement. The dignity, poise and restraint of her performance was
most moving. Isabel Simblett also
tackled the most difficult part of her career as the condemned girl. Her
portrayal of hysteria alternated with despair, bitter resentment softened
by wistful longing,—so
antagonising at the beginning of the play when we all thought she had
committed the murder, and so moving at the end when all seemed lost, was
one of the best performances she has ever given us. Stella Brown
as the Mother Superior also gets full marks for the best performance of her career. In the past she has
usually been cast for those parts which have merely called for her to be an
exaggerated and distorted version of herself, but this part called for real
acting and she rose to the occasion admirably. Full marks also for
Joan Cowell as the Scottish Sister Josephine: she never fell down on the
dialect once and her portrayal was as pretty a piece of quiet humour as we
have seen.
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Mary Howse as the young nurse made us all feel what a nice
little person she must be to have around one at any time, never mind during
illness, and Helena Currie as the type of nurse who is already showing
signs of the budding hospital matron was formidable to just the right
degree. On the night we were there the performance of Tony Garland as the
“village idiot” type was spoiled by the refusal of his office pals in the
audience to take him seriously. This did not happen on the first night, but
we ourselves felt that the task was somewhat beyond him: his shamble didn't
look right and his portrayal was not convincing enough. From the acting
point of view he probably had one of the most difficult parts in the play,
and we feel that more help from the make-up man might have made all the
difference.
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Left to right: Mary Howse, Helena Currie, Tony Garland,
Renée Forder and Joan Cowell
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Left to right:
Renée Forder, Stella Brown, George Kent,
Betty Evans,
Isabel Simblett and Kenneth Carlisle
,,,
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George Kent as Dr.
Jeffreys was George Kent and the drama of the discovery that he was really
the murderer seemed unrealistic. Everything went well until the last act,
but this called for dramatic ability of a more forceful nature than he was
able to apply to it and, as a consequence, the suicide off-stage
was somewhat flat. Kenneth Carlisle
made a good warden and Betty Evans a watchful and sympathetic wardress.
A special word of praise is due to Winifred Hill,
appearing with the Players for the first time, for her portrayal of the
character part of old Martha Pentridge. She hit it off admirably. The play was produced by Charles Hawkins
whose first association with the Players it was, and he is to be
congratulated on the very successful outcome of his labours. We would like to see greater support from the staff of
the District. It should be easily possible to fill the theatre on both
nights and to break even financially it is necessary to sell all seats.
The quality of the performance of the
Cicala Players is a complete guarantee of a good evening's entertainment.
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Left to right:
Isabel Simblett, Renée Forder and Winifred Hill
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Sep3M x
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