the pantomime of him being beaten to raise a wind is in a way his first theatrical role.
I was actually thinking -- when someone commented on the previous post that they found his stiff upper lip upon receiving the Worst Beating Ever from Master Stockwood objectionable -- that THAT (*not* screaming when actually beaten hard enough to raise a wind and then some) was his first recorded theatrical role. The pantomime beating is a nice inverse of that previous performance (and points not only to one source of Nicholas's acting skill -- the performance of bravery for an audience of his peers -- but also to the vast improvement in his living conditions that even the Mary of Barrashaw (in the company of shady Kit) represents over his school life.
Presentiments of Nicholas's acting ability
I was actually thinking -- when someone commented on the previous post that they found his stiff upper lip upon receiving the Worst Beating Ever from Master Stockwood objectionable -- that THAT (*not* screaming when actually beaten hard enough to raise a wind and then some) was his first recorded theatrical role. The pantomime beating is a nice inverse of that previous performance (and points not only to one source of Nicholas's acting skill -- the performance of bravery for an audience of his peers -- but also to the vast improvement in his living conditions that even the Mary of Barrashaw (in the company of shady Kit) represents over his school life.