Quartermaine's Terms

~~An interesting piece by Simon Gray centred around the staff room of Cull-Loomis School of English, Cambridge in the mid 60’s. Phil Rainforth’s cast are very good in each of their roles. This seven hander see's them all as teachers each with their own underlying story.
St John Quartermain (Rupert Bogare) was so laid back time just passed completely over him, even forgetting to teach at times with other staff members covering for him, eventually getting the sack.
Derek Meadle (Chris Howe) the temp teachers is so accident prone and much to his frustration the others rarely get his name right, brought relief to the stuffiness of Eddie Loomis (Bill Walsh) who kept everyone in check to the end, till his never seen partner dies and he gives up the school.
 Mark Sackling (Steve Davis) is a struggling author whose wife has left him, I loved his permanent beard problem which had disappeared by the end this was very cleverly done.
Anita Manchip (Michele Arkle) has a lot to deal with and has two pregnancies during the span of the play plus the students to look after.
Melanie Garth (Stevie Parker) hates being at home to look after her invalid mother who dominates all her spare time, making her very uncertain. Later her mother dies after falling down the stairs and the police show up to investigate a different matter but it does make you wonder?
Henry Windscape (Mike Watson) is one of the joint principals, he is constantly talking about his invisible wife and family, but in the end takes charge of the whole situation and accepts the position of running the school when Quartermain is sacked.
There is an excellent working set, but some scene changes could have been a bit quicker so was a little slow, but this I’m sure was just down to first night workings. A very enjoyable evening well done everyone.
Margaret Coltman

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