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It has been said that a boy is but a skin stretched over an appetite. If the appetite is for acting then every master will agree. Every schoolboy seems to possess a certain facility for displaying such characteristics as - sad, exuberant, gloomy, overburdened, ecstatic - characteristics which the professional actor has to study for years if he is to give a polished performance. The schoolboy takes them in stride. That is perhaps the reason why the school stage is a place where everyone `will play his part.' The boys at the Salvatorian College have been no exception to the rule and if of late it has seemed that the spirit of theatre has been missing, let me say at once that it has merely been evicted during building operations. We would not be true to the traditions of the school were the amateur stage to be neglected.
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Glancing through some old programmes one can see the vast variety of choice that has been exercised in the selection of plays, stories and playlets. In 1932 the audience present for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Father Osmund's priesthood, thrilled to the production of - "The Knight of the Burning Pestle" - a 17th century burlesque. Shakespeare lovers have been treated to "The Merchant of Venice;" "Richard III;" "Henry V" and many excerpts from other plays of the beloved Bard. History has been re-lived in "Traitor's Gate;" "Our Lady's Tumbler;" "Caesar's Friend" and much time and effort given by the staff and friends of the College have been amply repaid by the enthusiasm with which the plays were acted and received. If you preferred a thriller you could have seen "Rope" by Hitchcock. A comedy perhaps? Then "Arsenic and Old Lace" would have whetted your appetite.
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Many boys will remember the efforts of Father Peter in the field of Drama and Music; older boys will remember the wonderful musical skill of the late Mr. Rose; boys more recently at school will recall with delight the productive powers of Father Matthew and the make-up skill of Father David. To all these we owe a great debt of gratitude and I think that we can best repay them when, please God, in the near future we shall be able to make full use of the talents of the boys, of the facilities. of the stage and Assembly Hall and the electrical genius of Mr. O'Connell.
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