Quartermaine's Terms

I attended the third performance of this play, a Saturday night. I had read that it was a comedy set in a school staffroom. Indeed, it was more than that, it was an exceptional play which evoked much reflection; a play where people mask their inner most emotions and get on with the job! A play that made you think, long after you have left the theatre. If this is what the director intended, then he succeeded.

The entire play is set in the staffroom of a Cambridge school that teaches English to foreigners in the early 1960’s.

The set design, credited to Stephen Ralph and Rod Bissett was truly reminiscent of a school staffroom of yesteryear, complete with minimal furniture in mixed sombre colours, a desk and the standard pigeonholes.

Whilst this play didn’t have a plot, the audience was presented with an assortment of teachers who had problems, which whilst endeavouring to try and mask from each other, provided their characters with depth, and prompted empathy.

The school was run by joint principals, Eddie and Thomas. Eddie, played most suitably by Brian Lycett. He adopted gentle, encouraging tones in his voice when he did his best to motivate his staff. There were however, times when he was inaudible and extended dialogue was at risk of not being heard in its entirety.

Rebecca Holmes took the role of Anita Manchip, the deceived wife. She represented a particularly kind person, for whilst wrestling with her own emotional turbulence was empathetic to upset colleagues and had comfort in her soft voice and expressions.

Our attention at the start was drawn to Mark Sackling, played by Lee Connelly. He demonstrated his intense distress of losing his wife because she couldn’t cope with living with a budding novelist through agitated movement of his hands and restlessness.

Claire Parker presented the role of Melanie Garth in a business like, controlled, efficient manner in the staffroom, yet, as it was later revealed in reality she was a lonely singleton nursing her dominant mother who had had a stroke.

Henry Windscape was a key character and played superbly by Sam Evans, adopting a genial, hearty pipe smoking senior teacher who seemed to be everyone’s friend. He was proud to report his daughter was taking her O levels early but when she failed to get good grades life wasn’t so good.

In terms of humour, there wasn’t much to laugh about but I couldn’t stifle my giggles when Rory Prosser, in role as Derek Meadle recalled his experiences as a postman when training as a teacher during Christmas holidays. Derek was the new arrival on the staff whose life was a series of misfortunes. Whilst I found his dialect and fast delivery challenging to listen to, his characterisation was endearing to the audience and Rory managed to show his character’s vulnerability, as well as his edgy aggression, especially when people got his name wrong.

The role of St John Quartermaine was played brilliantly by Alan Lowe. The role was that of a lonely bachelor in his 50’s, desperate for company, a decent chap but almost ineffective in the classroom. Alan portrayed his character with a casual, amiable manner in all respects. His performance was both poignant and moving. When he sat in the winged armchair, he seemed relaxed and laid back; yet his hand movements and facial expressions conveyed anxiety and concern that only grew apparent towards the end of the play. When Henry was handed power, he was quick to wield it and he sacked St John. This end of Act 2, whilst some may say it was inevitable, shocked the audience who were left to see this lonely man with no purpose now, sobbing alone, still seated in his winged armchair in the staffroom that had been his secure, safe place.

Anita’s pregnancy was not convincing due to the ineffective padding, but characters otherwise were suitably costumed. The intermittent music to conclude a scene or used to add to the atmosphere ran the risk of masking a lot of speech and wasn’t necessary for dramatic purpose. Lighting was consistently effective.

What was achieved in this play was a very successful exploration of the experiences of loneliness and isolation. This partly due to the script but mostly because it was so well cast and believable characters were exposed through effective direction.

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