Unavoidable tragedy of Enborne Road

Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery: The Tragedy on Enborne Road, at the Phoenix Centre, on Saturday, November 29

This community play, presented by the Friends of Newtown Road Cemetery, tells the true story of the murder of a young woman, Edith Stevens, by her boyfriend Ellis Wynn, on a May evening in 1892.

They had gone for a walk together, along Enborne Road when at some point, Wynn had pulled out a gun, shot Stevens three times and then himself.

The play focuses on the inquest held, surprisingly the very next morning, into what happened and on the various people who came to see, examine or move the bodies and give their evidence.

Withers, played by Max Green, was illiterate and was played as someone hesitant and unsure of himself. John Gardner, as police sergeant Holding, appeared as witness in a uniform without stripes, which must be regarded as a minor wardrobe department malfunction and Thomas Buckingham, as Dr Clarke, was dressed in a very modern looking suit, shirt and tie that would have looked much out of place in 1892.

Other witnesses carne forward and at the end, we saw what might have been heard if a final witness, Croneen, a friend of Wynn's, had been called.

His exchanges with the coroner, James Piniger (Garry Poulson), were hampered by the latter being slow to provide the cues. The conclusion was that Wynn appeared to be suffering from what is now known as bipolar syndrome but, of course, there were no drugs to control it in those days and no way of avoiding this tragedy.

Narrated clearly, if a little softly, by Yvonne Paris, generally well acted, and very well researched by producer Ros Clow, who fashioned the facts into a short but telling play, this performance provided an entertaining hour at the Phoenix Centre.

DEREK ANSELL