Page 135 - Gonzaga at 60
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135
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
But to business. The Gonzaga Historia Domus records a number of producions and their
directors during these years. Some performances, by both Senior and Junior Schools, were
staged in aid of charity, we are told, and there were imported producions such as The Merchant
of Venice, no doubt with a speciic educaional purpose. The Historia records the (perhaps
improbable) involvement of a certain Mr Michael Shiel (then a scholasic and beter known for
his subsequent successes with rugby) both as a producer and . . . choreographer!
The Historia also records the involvement of a Mr Darach Connolly – who celebrated his
nineieth birthday this year - in three producions for the most senior classes: The Comedian
(Henri Gheon) in 1961, in which Ross Geoghegan played the lead; Billy Budd (Coxe & Chapman)
in 1968; and Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons (1963), in which Darach Connolly ‘assisted’ Fr Ausin
MacCurtain SJ The part of Thomas More was played by Leslie Webb, who died tragically young.
Esmonde Smyth played the Common Man.
Darach Connolly recounts Fr Veale’s invitaion to him (they were old friends from Synge Street)
to ‘come and do a play with the boys’. The play chosen had a closely Catholic signiicance. And he is
certain of Joe Veale’s purpose both in introducing drama at senior level and in the choice of plays.
Certainly, the three with which he was most closely associated had a common instrucional intent:
a study – with the addiional experience of enactment – of the driving force of conscience.
Another play, The Lark, Anouilh’s treatment of the character and spirituality of Joan of Arc
and the crises of conscience of her accusers, was staged in Fr Veale’s inal year (1971), and directed
by Jim O’Malley of the English Department, U.C.D. Again, the choice of play is paramount. It may
also have been the irst ime girls from Muckross took the female roles. Previously, these were
played by the Fith Years.
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE?
And they sill remember their days in ights, those early pupils; the performance of Leslie Webb as
More has never been forgoten. Acing in, stage-crewing for, the plays and operas is a memorable
part of nearly every Gonzaga boy’s experience of school: ‘One of the things I remember most
about school . . .’
Drama is, of course, another facet of the ‘rounded educaion’, allowing for the discovery of
other aspects of personality – the more ‘afecive’ side, perhaps, but also the ability to manage
a lighing plot or a stage crew. It also requires a high degree of collaboraion, not unlike team
sports. Typically of Gonzaga, Captains of Rugby very oten played major parts too; we’ve never
had quite the limiing ambiions of the sports departments in the other local Jesuit schools. But
the annual producions have, over the years, been showcases for hidden personaliies; the staf-
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
But to business. The Gonzaga Historia Domus records a number of producions and their
directors during these years. Some performances, by both Senior and Junior Schools, were
staged in aid of charity, we are told, and there were imported producions such as The Merchant
of Venice, no doubt with a speciic educaional purpose. The Historia records the (perhaps
improbable) involvement of a certain Mr Michael Shiel (then a scholasic and beter known for
his subsequent successes with rugby) both as a producer and . . . choreographer!
The Historia also records the involvement of a Mr Darach Connolly – who celebrated his
nineieth birthday this year - in three producions for the most senior classes: The Comedian
(Henri Gheon) in 1961, in which Ross Geoghegan played the lead; Billy Budd (Coxe & Chapman)
in 1968; and Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons (1963), in which Darach Connolly ‘assisted’ Fr Ausin
MacCurtain SJ The part of Thomas More was played by Leslie Webb, who died tragically young.
Esmonde Smyth played the Common Man.
Darach Connolly recounts Fr Veale’s invitaion to him (they were old friends from Synge Street)
to ‘come and do a play with the boys’. The play chosen had a closely Catholic signiicance. And he is
certain of Joe Veale’s purpose both in introducing drama at senior level and in the choice of plays.
Certainly, the three with which he was most closely associated had a common instrucional intent:
a study – with the addiional experience of enactment – of the driving force of conscience.
Another play, The Lark, Anouilh’s treatment of the character and spirituality of Joan of Arc
and the crises of conscience of her accusers, was staged in Fr Veale’s inal year (1971), and directed
by Jim O’Malley of the English Department, U.C.D. Again, the choice of play is paramount. It may
also have been the irst ime girls from Muckross took the female roles. Previously, these were
played by the Fith Years.
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE?
And they sill remember their days in ights, those early pupils; the performance of Leslie Webb as
More has never been forgoten. Acing in, stage-crewing for, the plays and operas is a memorable
part of nearly every Gonzaga boy’s experience of school: ‘One of the things I remember most
about school . . .’
Drama is, of course, another facet of the ‘rounded educaion’, allowing for the discovery of
other aspects of personality – the more ‘afecive’ side, perhaps, but also the ability to manage
a lighing plot or a stage crew. It also requires a high degree of collaboraion, not unlike team
sports. Typically of Gonzaga, Captains of Rugby very oten played major parts too; we’ve never
had quite the limiing ambiions of the sports departments in the other local Jesuit schools. But
the annual producions have, over the years, been showcases for hidden personaliies; the staf-
