ONCE A CATHOLIC: till 28 June

ONCE A CATHOLIC: Mary O'Malley

New Vic Theatre, Newcastle Under Lyme
Box office 01782 717962
Runs: 2hrs 30m: 20 minute interval: runs until Saturday 28th June 2003

Review: Ranjit Khutan 6 June 2003

Funny play, hilarious high quality production and a darker side
This is an hilarious play containing risqué dialogue and subject matter making it hard to imagine what the audience reaction would have been in 1977 when it was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

The play is set in a catholic school in 1950's London. The set is dominated by a small statue of 'our lady' [of Fatima] and a huge wooden cross bearing the image of Jesus looking down on our players. The colours are muted throughout sepia tones of brown and grey in the main, colours only becoming evident when the girls engage in activities that they shouldn't Mary Gallagher drinking the contents of Cuthbert's parents' drinks cabinet and Mary Mooney being seduced by Derek (Mary McGinty's boyfriend). The three girls, despite all sharing the first name 'Mary', are quite distinct and individual characters. They each live under the umbrella of shame and guilt - reminded by the nuns that 'no sin ever goes unrecorded or, any iniquitous thoughts'.

The first part of the play is light-hearted where we are shown Mary O'Malley's clever and insightful observations on Catholicism and reflections of her own school days that still remain fresh even after the interest in Irish comedy over the last decade. Whispers from some of the people around me and during the interval included comments like 'it was just like that' and 'that reminds me of ' showing how O'Malley has accurately captured the thoughts and views that so many young girls who went to these schools had.

Paul McCleary through both Father Mullarkey and Mr Emanuelli gets the audience laughing with ease the characters lines not extremely funny in themselves but it is his delivery of them that enables him to have the audience eating out of his hand. The three nuns perform well as the up tight teachers receiving hoots of laughter during the dissection scene, the scene where they catch the girls reading the bible in the girl's toilets and in the final scene.

The cast works well as a team, ensuring that the comedy is timely and well delivered. In one scene the girls are passing round a piece of paper behind the nuns back- forgetting that she 'can see all' and are almost caught out. The tension is unbearable and a girl sitting in the audience was so taken by this that she was jumping up and down on her seat in excitement as were the rest of us at whether they were going to get caught or not.

The second part of the play is a little darker where stronger language and violence are used more widely. The humour does offset this, but seeing a nun beat up a schoolgirl and then one of the girls being taken advantage of by an older boy is discomforting. The play still has the power to shock.

Mother Peter: Janine Birkett
Mary Gallagher: Clare Corbett
Derek: Azim Kourgli
Mary McGinty: Tess Mawle
Mary Mooney: Louisa McCarthy
Father Mullarkey/Mr Emanuelli: Paul McCleary
Cuthbert: James Millard
Mother Thomas Aquinas: Michele Moran
Mother Basil: Yvonne O'Grady

Director: Chris Monks
Designer: Jess Curtis
Lighting Designer: Daniella Beattie
Sound Designer: James Earl-Davis
Voice Coach: Mark Langley
Fight Director: Renny Krupinski
Stage manager: Andy Billington

2003-06-11 16:59:47