NCP triumph again with The Caine Mutiny court martial (June 1961)

Critics acclaimed NCP’s Caine Mutiny court martial as ‘immeasurably their finest production for a very long time’ and ‘another feather in their cap.’ Directed by Leonard Pierrepoint with exceptional professionalism, this famous courtroom drama ran at the Kenya National Theatre from 1-10 June 1961.

Herman Wouk’s classic novel, published in 1951, was a hit movie in 1954 with Humphrey Bogart playing the neurotic Captain Queeg who is relieved of his duty as commander of the U.S. destroyer at the height of a typhoon in the Pacific by his sub-ordinate officer, Lt. Steve Maryk.

In the NCP production, Geoffrey Best gave an outstanding performance as Capt. Queeg and Gil Preston-Jones plays Lt. Maryk with measured restraint. The other outstanding performance was that of Srish Trzebinski as the defense counsel Lt. Greenwald who probes Capt. Queeg relentlessly in the witness box until such time as he convicts himself by talking too much.

The large stage at the Kenya National Theatre presented a few logistical problems in designing the set for this intimate courtroom drama but all challenges were overcome to render a brilliant production.