The Last Day of November (1984)
by John Yorath
Directed by Bruce Murray
Performances: Sun 2nd - Sat 8th December 1984, Bell Theatre
Contents
Introduction
This play was initially written by John Yorath to be performed by children...
It told the story of the Crystal Palace, from its planning to the holding of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1854, its building, relocation to Sydenham Hill and its final destruction by fire on the last day of November 1936.
This was a restaged version with a slightly different cast and set.
Cast
- Chris Dickinson
- Jack Edwards
- Lynn Foster
- Lesley Finney
- Trevor Gill
- Nikki Hogg
- Jeannie Hossell
- Haydn Leaker
- Jonathan Lewis
- John Lyne
- Dennis Packham
- Julie Thompson
Crew
- Stage Manager - Cheryl Webb
- Assistant Stage Managers - Sue Arnold, John Kidd
- Lighting Design - Richard Wood
- Lighting Operators - Mark Ahearn, Laura Hussey, David Groves
- Sound - Bill Peters
- Projector Operator - Brian Fretwell
- Set Building - Bruce Murray & David Lamkin
- Prompt - Linda White
- Wardrobe & Costumes - Jeanette Hoile, Iris Lenny, Hilda Coulden, Frances Johnson & Lynn Jenner
Reviews
....Bruce Murray, who is about to return to his native New Zealand, goes out with a blaze in his production for the South London Theatre Centre of local author John Yorath's "The Last Day of November". The sub-title is "Crystal Palace - the end of an Era"
A round dozen performers at the Bell Theatre play out John Yorath's version of events. Great names stalk his pages: designer Paxton, railway chairman Lang, engineer Brunel. It is an absorbing tale that justifies its two-hour treatment, though I think it was a great mistake to present it without an interval, since the saga falls almost pat into two parts.
Some of the chosen music is worrying, too. The acquisition of a new site is greeted by, of all things, Smetna's "Ma Vlast" as if the Crystal Palace were being moved to Bohemia.
But the choice of the closing bars of Shostakovitch's fifth symphony to see out the fire seems as appropriate as anything else except, possibly, Siegfried's Funeral March.
The cast performs with great spirit, with especially commendable work from the central trio: John Lyne as Paxton, Jack Edwards as the forceful Lang and Haydn Leaker as the dissident director Farquar.
Nikki Hogg is a gracefully dignified homegrown Queen Victoria, and Dennis Packham, one of the two survivors from the production of two years ago, is the egregious Col. Sibthorp, who did his best to scupper the whole operation.
Donald Madgwick, January 1985 SCENE, reprinted from the Croydon Advertiser with permission.
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.
See Also
The Last Day Of November (1983)
The orginal staging of this play was also taken to The Questors Theatre
References
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