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T
HE
S
CHOOL
P
LAY
1913
-
‘K
ING
J
OHN
’
Wilfrid Cowell (seated centre) had produced and directed a Shakespearian play continuously at the School every year staring in 1873. He felt it necessary to extend the
knowledge of the Bard not only within the School but for the citizens of the surrounding districts in North Oxford as well (who were invited to attend performances). These
productions were meticulously put together, beginning in the spring with copious auditions and then occupying several sections of the School including the carpenters for the
scenery, the seamstresses for the costumes and the laboratories for ‘special effects’. The venue was either the Dining Hall or Big School. In 1914, for the first time in thirty-
one years there was no play as the Warden thought it to be ‘too frivolous at this time’ and did not re-appear until December 1918 (after the Armistice). The vast majority of
these thespians were in uniform by the end of 1914 and several were lost.