Here’s a picture from The Kentish Times dating back to February 1962’s production of Romeo and Juliet supplied to me by Mick O’Hara (St Mary’s 1958 to 1963).

The KT loyally sent a reporter and photographer to most plays staged by St Mary’s between 1957 and 1971. The two driving forces behind these plays were English and Drama Masters Adrian Jarvis (1956 to 1966) and Fr Cyril Trueman (1966 to 1972). It was Fr Trueman’s premature death in January 1972 that put a halt to these plays.

The picture shows three main participants in the play – Cedric Sander as Juliet (left), Edward Bell as Romeo (right) and (middle) Mick himself who played Juliet’s nurse. (Cedric and Mick were both at the recent launch of ‘We Did Our Homework On the Bus’ as was Edward’s older brother, Michael).

Mick won praise for his portrayal of the nurse and especially the way he voiced the part which, he says, was all down to Jarvis:

“Part of the genius of Adrian Jarvis is that he treated serious drama with respect but when there was any comedy value in a play he recognised it, enhanced it and actually improved it without ever detracting from the otherwise dramatic content,” explains Mick.

“He made full use of the ‘Rude Mechanicals’ but his masterstroke in Romeo and Juliet was that when we ran through it he immediately said to me: ‘Try playing the nurse with a Southern Irish accent….but make it genuine and not caricatured. This will make her loveable whilst still believable and add some light to the darker drama.’

“This was music to my ears as the accent came naturally to me and I grew up surrounded by family who had precisely that accent. It worked a treat and I think that every review mentioned it. I still remember the glow I got when audience members called out for the nurse at the curtain calls. One of the many magic moments that I have to thank Mr Jarvis for.

“Looking back at the scripts and rehearsal schedules I am amazed that a bloke who now is asked by his wife to go to shops two minutes away for two items and has to phone her up to remind him what he is shopping for could ever remember the vast amount of script he digested in plays like The Medea! Tempus Fugit…..but as the saying has it ‘Once we were men!’