NO.119
Bradfield was, as one professor of Greek
put it, ‘one play to the good’, and
Bradfield’s example was followed by other
schools. There was no more Greek drama
at Bradfield until 1890, but within a few
months Cambridge University produced
Sophocles’ Ajax. In its preview, The Times
said ‘no one, of course, could expect or
require that a play of Sophocles should
evoke excitement from a modern
audience’, but the reviews in The Times
itself and Vanity Fair were full of praise.
Staging Greek plays was novel and
adventurous; going to see them was
fashionable and fun: Cambridge arranged
special trains from King’s Cross to enable
the London set to attend.
Bradfield immediately benefited. In
1882, the year of Alcestis, there were 62
boys in the school; within six years that
number trebled; and by 1900 there were
292. In 1888 Gray bought an old chalk pit
next to the school, to convert it into an
open-air Greek theatre modelled on the
one at Epidaurus. Work began in early
1890, carried out initially by the staff,
including Gray himself, and the boys.
Professional workmen were quickly
brought in, and by June the orchestra,
stage, and ten tiers of seats were ready for
Bradfield’s second Greek play, perhaps the
first in any Greek theatre for 1500 years,
Sophocles’ Antigone.
This time there was no need for
outside help. All the parts were taken by
masters and boys. Masks were not used,
but authenticity was clearly the aim: the
music was composed in the Dorian mode,
and a single clarinet, chosen for being
closest to the ancient Greek flute,
accompanied the choral songs. Antigone
was received enthusiastically. About 1000
people came to its three performances, so
Bradfield decided to put on Agamemnon
two years later in 1892, which was also a
success. In 1895 Alcestis was staged for the
second time, and was seen by 5000
spectators in four days. Gray now decided
that the Greek play should be a triennial
event, with Alcestis, Antigone and
Agamemnon as the three plays in the cycle.
T H E T R U S T Y S E RVA N T
By 1898, the second time that
Antigone was staged, Bradfield’s reputation
for scholarship and dramatic performance
had been established, and the theatre’s
capacity doubled. That year the female
parts were taken by Selina Gray and her
sister. None of the boys in the school
could have taken the parts without
requiring constant and intensive
coaching, which Gray was unable to give
because he was ill. The critics in The
Times and the Manchester Guardian
complained, because the casting of
women went against ancient practice.
Oxford and Cambridge had cast women
in the female roles, but Bradfield had a
reputation for authenticity. Punch
published a satirical extract from Antigone
in which Creon’s insistence on male
actors is resisted by the cigarette-smoking
actresses playing Antigone and Ismene.
Comment in the national press about the
casting confirms that the Bradfield Greek
play was now an established event in the
nation’s artistic life.
1900 was the fiftieth anniversary of
Bradfield’s foundation, so the next Greek
play, Agamemnon, was brought forward
by a year to be part of the celebrations.
That the school had survived to celebrate
its jubilee at all was thanks to Gray. His
attention to detail was apparent
throughout the organisation. 9