Page 82 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 82
nevertheless with some gratification larly in Coventry Cathedral. It is theat-
that the Record notes that the produc- rically powerful, allowing the director
tion in Gonzaga Chapel in December a number of significant effects in an
anticipated the Pro-Cathedral by some open auditorium such as the chapel -
months. Herod enters in earthly pride and
That the production of such repres- pomp up the same aisle which is later
entations should not be widespread in to become the scene both of the entry
this country is interesting in itself. The into Jerusalem and the Via Dolorosa;
names of cities such as Chester, York, Lazarus is raised almost at the spot
Coventry, Wakefield and others are where the conquest of death takes
firmly associated with cycles of plays place on Calvary. There is a brutal
presenting episodes from both Testa- immediacy in the dramatist's present-
ments, but Ireland has no such tradit- ation of the Crucifixion, the text
ion. Recent Irish dramatists are more concentrating on the callous indiffer-
associated with a drama that confronts ence and the cruel levity of the sold-
Christianity with paganism, Christ iery; their drinking after their labours
with Cathleen ni Houlihan, Reverence while Mary laments beneath her son
with Dionysiac revel. By the time of and wipes the blood from his feet with
the first flourishing of native talent, her head-cloth.
drama had reached a high sophisticat- The reasons for choosing such mat-
ion and it was too late to develop an erial for a Sixth year play are implicit
Irish religious tradition in the dramatic in what has been said above about
form. medieval drama. There were additional
The medieval drama - like the reasons. The chapel provides an ideal
Greek - had its roots in liturgy, theatre, allowing fluidity of movement
Episodes from the Testaments were and dispensing with the embarrass-
enacted both as celebration and ment of attempting realism of set and
worship, but these enactments served the awkwardness of set-changes. In the
also a didactic purpose: they instructed absence of a proscenium, actors and
a believing society through the graphic audience are brought into immediate
medium of drama. One could adapt relationship, which almost forces
the poet Herbert's remark about sincerity of performance on amateur
poetry, and suggest that the drama actors. The audience become particip-
could capture those whom a sermon ators, as beggars seek alms, prophets
left unaffected. The fact that these instruct and the torturers of Christ
plays were performed by amateurs on harangue them at close quarters. The
feast days reinforced the sense of a location itself adds a dignity which is
worshipping community. Naive and not easily obtainable in a school hall.
predominantly narrative in the earliest Add only that the play allows the par-
days they must have been, but the texts ticipation of large numbers in a variety
that have survived (often dating from of parts, the audience never having to
the sixteenth century) reveal a consum- suffer an individual performer for
mate skill in drawing character and long.
presenting the drama of the events of The last remark is unnecessarily dis-
Christ's life rivalled only by the gospels paraging, since the whole company
themselves. performed spectacularly well, moving
Keith Miles's synthesis of plays from flawlessly from scene to scene, inte-
different local cycles (the one used in grating words and action with the
the Sixth year production with Muck- music of a small consort of instru-
ross Park) presents the story of Christ ments. Very delicate moments - the
from the Annunciation to the Resur- miracles, the raising of Lazarus, the
rection, and has been performed regu- Crucifixion itself passed in
80
that the Record notes that the produc- rically powerful, allowing the director
tion in Gonzaga Chapel in December a number of significant effects in an
anticipated the Pro-Cathedral by some open auditorium such as the chapel -
months. Herod enters in earthly pride and
That the production of such repres- pomp up the same aisle which is later
entations should not be widespread in to become the scene both of the entry
this country is interesting in itself. The into Jerusalem and the Via Dolorosa;
names of cities such as Chester, York, Lazarus is raised almost at the spot
Coventry, Wakefield and others are where the conquest of death takes
firmly associated with cycles of plays place on Calvary. There is a brutal
presenting episodes from both Testa- immediacy in the dramatist's present-
ments, but Ireland has no such tradit- ation of the Crucifixion, the text
ion. Recent Irish dramatists are more concentrating on the callous indiffer-
associated with a drama that confronts ence and the cruel levity of the sold-
Christianity with paganism, Christ iery; their drinking after their labours
with Cathleen ni Houlihan, Reverence while Mary laments beneath her son
with Dionysiac revel. By the time of and wipes the blood from his feet with
the first flourishing of native talent, her head-cloth.
drama had reached a high sophisticat- The reasons for choosing such mat-
ion and it was too late to develop an erial for a Sixth year play are implicit
Irish religious tradition in the dramatic in what has been said above about
form. medieval drama. There were additional
The medieval drama - like the reasons. The chapel provides an ideal
Greek - had its roots in liturgy, theatre, allowing fluidity of movement
Episodes from the Testaments were and dispensing with the embarrass-
enacted both as celebration and ment of attempting realism of set and
worship, but these enactments served the awkwardness of set-changes. In the
also a didactic purpose: they instructed absence of a proscenium, actors and
a believing society through the graphic audience are brought into immediate
medium of drama. One could adapt relationship, which almost forces
the poet Herbert's remark about sincerity of performance on amateur
poetry, and suggest that the drama actors. The audience become particip-
could capture those whom a sermon ators, as beggars seek alms, prophets
left unaffected. The fact that these instruct and the torturers of Christ
plays were performed by amateurs on harangue them at close quarters. The
feast days reinforced the sense of a location itself adds a dignity which is
worshipping community. Naive and not easily obtainable in a school hall.
predominantly narrative in the earliest Add only that the play allows the par-
days they must have been, but the texts ticipation of large numbers in a variety
that have survived (often dating from of parts, the audience never having to
the sixteenth century) reveal a consum- suffer an individual performer for
mate skill in drawing character and long.
presenting the drama of the events of The last remark is unnecessarily dis-
Christ's life rivalled only by the gospels paraging, since the whole company
themselves. performed spectacularly well, moving
Keith Miles's synthesis of plays from flawlessly from scene to scene, inte-
different local cycles (the one used in grating words and action with the
the Sixth year production with Muck- music of a small consort of instru-
ross Park) presents the story of Christ ments. Very delicate moments - the
from the Annunciation to the Resur- miracles, the raising of Lazarus, the
rection, and has been performed regu- Crucifixion itself passed in
80
