By the start of the 1960s, the annual school play was fast becoming an institution at St Mary’s Grammar, under the brilliant direction of English and drama master, Adrian Jarvis. In 1961, Jarvis turned to the ancient Greek tragedy The Medea which was staged between February 16 and 25. The lead role of Medea, daughter of Aietes, King of Colchis was shared by Tom Richardson and third former David McAuliffe from Gravesend who is pictured above. Other key roles went to Edward Bell who played Jason, Chief of the Argonauts and who would have a brief stint as a professional actor in later life and Charles Montgomery as Creon. McAuliffe, who was ironically one of the tallest boys in the year, would play a succession of female roles including Lady Capulet in the 1962 production of Romeo and Juliet and Jocasta in 1964’s Oedipus The King. In 1979, some 21 years after arriving as a first former at St Mary’s, McAuliffe returned to Sidcup in 1979 when he became Music Master at the newly amalgamated St Mary’s and St Joseph’s.
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