Chris Corks Says:
So here it is...my contribution to the ongoing pictorial history of Trinity School.
The play was Androcles and the Lion and I think it was 1962/3. I played 'Spintho', a cowardly character who had little inclination for being fed to the lions. Sadly, I cannot remember the names of a single one of the other characters on the stage, which says nothing for my memory and probably a sign of advancing years.
I remember that David Baker had a
large hand in this, as did the art master Mr Adams. I do recall that we
had good audiences. The photos are stamped on the back 'Ralph Meakins 15
St Matthews Parade Northampton'. Meakins does ring a bell, a prefect I
think in the year above me. I guess this may have been taken by
one of his family members.
I had long forgotten I even had these photos, and it was only after
going through a vast pile of family archives that have recently been
shipped to Pakistan that I came across them. Would be interested to know
who the others in the pics are and what became of them.
Jim Sullivan says: The photographs of Androcles and the Lion were taken by Ralph Meakins who was the father of Vaughan Meakins who was in Form 5B in 62/63. Ralph was 'the' photographer in Northampton at the time and he normally concentrated on weddings and such like but obviously was persuaded by Vaughan to focus on the play that evening.
Peter Douglas says: I have a little information about this.
I was not in the play myself but was good friends with some people who
were. I do have a couple of memories about the play.
The first is when the cast members tried on their costumes (March 18,
1963). Pip Thomas was the captain, and I said that he looked like
a fireman in his ridiculous helmet! Another memory is skiving off
games to watch the first full dress rehearsal of the play on March 20.
The next day I watched the second rehearsal from the back of the hall
with Adrian Hoffman, Nick Thomas, and Michael Eyton-Jones.
The only people I can identify in Chris Cork’s photos are as follows.
Peter Drinkwater played Androcles, and he can be seen in both of Chris
Cork’s photos. Peter is in the dark costume with the white belt.
He is behind the character on the far left in the first picture, and in
the second he is all but obscured on the right, behind the character
wearing dark trousers and a white singlet. The other person I can
identify here is Robert Lacey. Bob is playing Ferrovius, and is
prominent in both photos, standing stiff-armed on the right in both
pictures. My friend Pip Thomas was also in the play but I can’t
see him here (Pip went to Leeds University with me in October 1963, but
we have lost touch).
I don’t recognize or remember the names of any others, but please note
that there’s a write-up of the play in “The Tower” magazine for 1963,
which is on the website. Mr. Colin Hill, my English master, asked
me to do a write-up of this Shaw play for “The Tower” magazine. [go]
Later he was clearly displeased with what I’d written as he told me to
rewrite some parts of it. I can’t recall if I refused or if he didn’t
like my revision, but what appears in the Tower magazine is by “C.H.H.”
and those aren’t my initials! I think we had a falling out, whose
details are lost to history! He was an odd duck.
There was another school play, The Ghost Train, performed in 1961, and
there is also a review and cast list in “The Tower” from that year.
I wonder if anyone kept any photos of that.
