YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, Manor House OS. The Institute, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Dress Rehearsal, 8 May 1978.

It would be wrong to criticize in too much detail, what was not a proper performance. The cast and chorus were obviously trying to perform under difficult conditions, the orchestra did not know the music, and this appeared to be the first run-through with singers and orchestra. Nevertheless, the singers did not really know the piece either. The M.D. (Keith Beniston) seemed to favour a rather tight metronomic approach to the music, which made for pedantic, expressionless singing. Some of the Principals had good voices, but few of them knew how to use them. It must, however, have been as disconcerting for them as it was for me to hear the M.D. shouting the beats at them. Or perhaps they like it. The scenery was pleasing, the costumes, standard (Fox's), though the men had no ruffs (? economy) - which made their necks look a bit tatty. That this wasn't just because they hadn't arrived in time was shown by the fact that Meryll omitted reference to Fairfax's ruff. John Welch's production was imaginatively staged, though he had the problem of an overcrowded stage and no second level. He managed to create some pretty pictures. The actors varied between the wooden and the ham; apart from Phoebe, there was no performance which betrayed any real understanding of the part, and even she tended to be rather too mature and insufficiently girlish. She sang very charmingly, though, and was pleasing to listen to (Deborah Bindra). She sang "hay-ho". The others either gesticulated in rather meaningless fashion, or delivered their words in a flat, dull way. Most sang competently if dully; the 2nd Yeoman was gratingly flat. One of the citizens was very fat and looked rather like Costello in "Jack and the Beanstalk". (I saw most of Act 1). MICHAEL WALTERS

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