No 8 — November 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
KEELE UNIVERSITY, Trial by Jury, 21 June 1977.
It may be debated, even among the devotees of a particular theatrical genre, whether or not it is a wise venture to go ahead with a production in that line, given an appalling inadequacy of talent and resources. There are those who would argue that any production of a dramatic work, though sketchy in its presentation, will stimulate sufficient general interest among performers and spectators alike to be of ultimate service to the art form– represented. Conversely, it could be shown that in certain circumstances a bad performance does more harm than good in bringing down opprobrium on the art form in question. In the case of G & S operetta where sophisticated detractors, and productions both trivial and trivialising, abound, what I have witnessed in my experience of amateur dramatics tends me to the latter view.
This was one of the major reasons why I was not personally involved in Keele University's recent summer term production of Trial by Jury. From its inception it was clear that resources and talent would be lacking to such an extent that the results would be painful to witness. To be fair, therefore, I hope that the above comments will have alerted readers to my own prejudices and preconceptions and the possibility that I approached the performance with a jaundiced eye, trusting my theories to be demonstrated by reality. As it was I was pleasantly surprised. Due to the illness of the producer, full staging had been abandoned and a semi–concert version, somewhat on the lines of Ian Taylor's book, was put on in the University Chapel. The 21 piece orchestra, most of whom were music students, were under the jerky baton of Alison Goodwin. The members of the orchestra coped exceedingly well, considering that they were under–rehearsed and were struggling with an incomplete score. Alison, presumably through inexperience, was not aware of the necessity with small orchestras of going through those famous D.C.Trust parts with a light pencil, checking for all the harmonic gaps and transposing accordingly. To do her justice, she was not unaware of these gaps at the actual performance and the last I heard was that she was writing a furious letter of complaint to the Trust. Vocally, only one soloist emerged with honours, John Corbett as Edwin. His tenor voice has power, personality and a most pleasant tone. David Burnett as the Counsel was satisfactory, though characterless. The rest were indifferent, or bad.
Dramatically it was quite obvious that there was no "production" as such. Climbing around the suggested props of a law court in costumes which were allusive rather than accurate, the principals and chorus individually attempted or did not attempt to give his or her idea of how his or her contribution should fit. The result was, of course, chaotic. One or two members of the jury and bridesmaids' chorus were improvising beautifully and quite stole one's attention from the Counsel and the Usher (Edwin Kilby) who did nothing. Sarah Moyse as the plaintiff succeeded in putting some life into her part, though her words were inaudible. David Lindsay as the Judge was one of those "busy" actors who have a vague idea that they ought to be holding the audience, but are not quite sure how. Nevertheless, David's evident talents have been demonstrated on other occasions, and what was lacking here was the potter rather than the clay. Having a female forePERSON of the jury (Sue Whitehouse) rather made nonsense of the one line this character has to sing. Despite these criticisms, it was possible to sit back and enjoy the show in a spirit of charity, realising that much had been made from so little, but to do this it helped to be less appreciative of the artistic qualities of the vehicle. COLIN ENGEL
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