The Chronicle 682

33 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

The Warden as Inspector Clouseau in 2015

shock!’ At the Staff Christmas lunch Mr Aldred poured further glory upon our leader, declaring, ‘His was a masterful performance, full of dramatic profundity with moments of comic genius and sheer poignancy. At least it was when I wrote it.’ So much of that is almost true and was no less so back on stage in the staff rendition of Hamalot where the Bard’s eponymous hero finds himself enmeshed in a Pythonesque Game of Thrones . Here the 13th incumbent featured in three guises but died only once. As himself he offered the definitive guidance on the intonation of the famous ‘To be…’ speech having already appeared along with Sub-Warden Tom James as the witless Rosencrantz and/ or Guildenstern still attempting to pass their CE exams. Mercifully the two were detonated before they were admitted to Teddies but only to be reincarnated as show-stopping ‘Dragons’ for the final scene under the whip-cracking Judy (Daenerys) Young.

And so to the fin de siècle performance as an autocratic leader, conspired against by his closest confidantes and ultimately deposed. Coincidentally, this was mirrored in the 2019 ‘History Play’ role as the toga-clad, Julius Caesar culminating in the ultimate death scene having been dealt the ‘unkindest cut of all’. Director Aldred, recalls that ‘His turn as Julius Caesar was comedy gold. The staging of Caesar’s death at the hands of his scheming colleagues, brilliantly overacted by Stephen, was hugely enjoyed by Common Room and School alike. It was a superbly fitting end to his time on stage here. No doubt he will tread the boards again elsewhere…’ If the 14th Warden is reading this, Stephen has left you his tap shoes – only size 8 but big ones to fill!

The Warden and former Sub-Warden Tom James as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamalot in 2017