Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

without meaning to cause offence (as i know how well-loved DNP is), did anyone else find his plays a bit, well, pretentious?

i think of all the plays i really liked, he did none of them! the best IMHO were house-plays, german dept ones (andorra was probably the best i've ever seen at CH or at all, certainly better than the 5hr DNP 'epics'), or external ones.

Great Plum wrote:You left the year before they did Orpheus in the Underworld - I think at one point there were 140 people on stage - Mr Jeffers on a motorbike....

Tue DNP madness!

I think I have a photo of orpheus in the underworld somewhere but even if I do find it I'm afraid it's going nowhere near the internet! Me in tights aged 11 singing the part of cupid - that would be suicide and not just social!

It was a fantastic production though. I seem to recall the lead was played by a german chap? The greatest part of the whole production was the entire cast of 140 people crowded in the foyer refusing to rehearse while we watched euro ?? with England vs Germany! DNP went mad.

I also seem to remember the female lead (Joanna?) was with the welsh national opera? shame about the rest of the singers!

GEMV wrote:

Great Plum wrote:You left the year before they did Orpheus in the Underworld - I think at one point there were 140 people on stage - Mr Jeffers on a motorbike....

Tue DNP madness!

I think I have a photo of orpheus in the underworld somewhere but even if I do find it I'm afraid it's going nowhere near the internet! Me in tights aged 11 singing the part of cupid - that would be suicide and not just social!

It was a fantastic production though. I seem to recall the lead was played by a german chap? The greatest part of the whole production was the entire cast of 140 people crowded in the foyer refusing to rehearse while we watched euro ?? with England vs Germany! DNP went mad.

I also seem to remember the female lead (Joanna?) was with the welsh national opera? shame about the rest of the singers!

Ha, I remember you in those tights! Wasn't the German guy the language assistant?

Great Plum wrote:I believe he also had a roller on stage once...

Just noticed this.......

It's going back a bit - this was a production of Joe Orton's "The Erpingham Camp" (and camp it certainly was).

DNP and Richard Palmer turned this into a semi-musical extravaganza, including the roller on stage. This caused a lot of concern to health-and-safety types. I think some (quite a lot) of the content of the original text had to be toned down a bit, too. I recall that the headmaster, Newsome, took a personal interest in making sure that nothing too lewd or blasphemous was uttered on stage.

The music was mostly provided by the St. Louis Jazz Band, and DNP somehow managed to integrate us into the plot, so we were on stage pretty much all of the time.

Just out of interest, are photos of these old productions kept by the school in some dusty old archive, or did The Blue etc. rely on personal photographs from staff and pupils?

.........DNP and extravaganza go together well in the same sentence.

I was reminded the other day (as it was on TV) of Barnes B's production of The Happiest Days of Your Life (1975ish). Somewhere I have a photo or two - - I haven't worn stockings since then....

sport! wrote:.........DNP and extravaganza go together well in the same sentence.

I was reminded the other day (as it was on TV) of Barnes B's production of The Happiest Days of Your Life (1975ish). Somewhere I have a photo or two - - I haven't worn stockings since then....

Well, tights are that little bit warmer, aren't they?

By the way, I've heard from Rory F-T and Andy Bing recently - both doing well.

Saw Toby Kibble last Friday - he was up to collect his daughter for the (ridiculously long) 2-week half-term.

notice I didn't mention skirts either....

2 weeks!

Please say hello to them from me. BTW did you ever pick up any memorabilia?.......does anyone know if the catalogue will be revived I wonder?

sport! wrote:notice I didn't mention skirts either....

2 weeks!

Please say hello to them from me. BTW did you ever pick up any memorabilia?.......does anyone know if the catalogue will be revived I wonder?

I'll certainly say hello for you.....

Yes, I picked up a few bits and pieces on Old Blues Day.

The whole memorabilia thing is a question for C.H.Enterprises, I suppose, but with the involvement of the C.H.Association, Old Blues etc. it can't be impossible to sort it out.

As someone else mentioned, why not set up a store on ebay, for starters?

Wouldn't take long to arrange, and would be easy to maintain.

I feel a new thread coming on.........I would have thought there's some mileage and money in it for the CHA.

sport! wrote:I feel a new thread coming on.........I would have thought there's some mileage and money in it for the CHA.

Seems logical to me.....

Anyone from the C.H.A. have any strong views about this?

I have some photos I took when the theatre was being built and one day I will hopefully fine them...

Those would be good to see...

SOMEWHERE in the cellar I have a stash of CH photos - never published before

Some I made when I was there inc one of someone I think smoking in the now gone art school carpark bogs, and some taken aaound 1979 when I visited my cousin Duncan at the school

Then I had a proper camera and took pictures of most houses as they marched into lunch

I will try to find them and then learn how to post them

They should be of interest to quite a few people i think

By the way, I have a few things which may be of interest to the school museum including a broadie buckle made in Cheapside which means it dates from when the school was in London

Again I would have to find the things but it would be good to know who's in charge of the museum

I think Mr Plumbley was at one time

It might be Mrs Howard now...

I think it is.