A LETTER FROM
THE PRESIDENT
3
Hello and welcome to The Murder at Haversham Manor.
We are thrilled that the Cornley University Drama Society is performing
in the USA. We can only apologise to those involved in the production of
Equus originally scheduled for this week, which due to a clerical error,
is now being performed in the Cornley University Gymnasium. We hope
there are no hard feelings and we’ve left the vaulting horse out for you.
The question everyone at Cornley has been asking is: are we ready
for a venue of this size? The answer is “yes.” The cast and I rehearsed
for weeks using only the best acting teachings to inspire us. We read
that Sanford Meisner once said, “Acting is behaving truthfully,” so we
immediately changed all the names in the play to our own names and
cut the murder, the manor house setting and any other element that we
it only ran at 17 minutes. So we went back to the Meisner book and we
realized the full quote was in fact: “Acting is behaving truthfully... under
imaginary circumstances,” so we reinstated the cuts and we were then
quickly back on track.
We found the teachings of Michael Chekhov less confusing. He says,
“An actor has to burn inside with an outer ease.” So that evening it
was vindaloos all round at the Sunam Balti House on Cornley High
Street. However, try as we did to not react to our burning insides, it was
goes to show how tough acting can be. At the end of the evening, Dennis
was actually sick in the restaurant bathrooms. We always knew he was
one of the weaker actors.
All this hard work and preparation has left us with an ensemble piece
that has achieved such critical acclaim as “VERY INTERESTING”
from Mr. Harwood, esteemed head of Design Technology at Cornley
University, and “RATHER UNSETTLING” from real-life police chief Mr.
Greaves of the Cornley Volunteer Police Force. I’m sure that with a full
audience, the piece will truly bring down the house.
CHRIS BEAN
President of the Cornley University Drama Society &
Director of The Murder at Haversham Manor
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