St. Clare play review - by Nick the Bookman - 18/3/2012
"God moves in mysterious ways..."
So quoth my wife Marilena this morning when I told her I was going to church today. You see, she's the Catholic in the family and I'm the Dawkinsite and she got a bit of a laugh out of me attending. Basically, Lamma-Gung asked me if I would cover a short musical play commemorating the 800th anniversary of St. Clare founding the order of Franciscan nuns known as the Poor Clares.
The gig is taking place at The Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Kindergarten. Today. In about 30 minutes. That is at noon 18/3/2012 and not at whatever time I'm writing this story further down the timeline of the Continual Present. Which is too fleeting to recognise. The past regresses back some 13.7 billion years and the future is another 100 trillion or so of years to come. But hey, enough of our SpaceTimeContinuum and however it came into being...
I'm up at the Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Kindergarten where a large crowd has gathered to watch and cheer and applaud the actors and actresses of the Sunday School Youth Group. They've been rehearsing the short play about the life of St. Clare of Assisi (1194 - 1253). Specifically how she fled the power politics of her wealthy family in Assisi who wanted to wed her off to another rival family and form a dynasty for the ages. She linked up with the future St. Francis of Assisi - a man whom all the birds (and bees and other beasts) loved. He led her to sanctuary and her new religious life commenced.
The show starts about 1225 - a little late, considering a Cardinal had to come over from HK to deliver the English Mass at about 1300. Still, there should be time. There's a good turnout (oh, I've said that already). Chi, the drummer from the now resting Sinister Left is doing the music. No requests today though, so Slayer's
"Reign In Blood" will have to go unappreciated by everyone.
Eva is standing by my right, filming the show for posterity. Another camera is farside. There's a food bar and water available. The play is being performed in the open space in front of the Kindergarten. There's a nice wall of styrofoam bricks, aged and beautiful, with a small cross of a Christ like figure. The pre-teen and teenage thespians have walk-ons, stage left and right. There are some electronic throat clearing
skronks and
sqworks from the sound system. Also some very pleasant and soothing musical interludes on classical-like guitar and some Chopin piano. The singers have a bit of microphone trouble and the Fourth Wall is breached several times as backstage crew provide alternatives. No problem for me or the audience. I'm actually feeling very serene and rested and I've promised Lamma Gung that there will be
NO Cheap Shots. I usually save those for BushReich, Republicans (both Iranian and American) and the hell-spawn Bankers and Financial Executives who broke the world in 2008.
In short, it's an enjoyable 30 minutes or so. No one is moaning when the singers get the occasional attack of nerves or frogs in their throats. They're given kind time and patient attention to complete their lines. The whole show was basically put together in two weeks and it's only their second revue. So, bravo to everyone who contributed time and energy to make it work.
Songs include
"What do you want from me, Lord?'". "Brother Sun and Sister Moon" and a choir joining in offstage. It's almost a bit
"Jesus Christ, Superstar" in places and not in a bombastic way. The actor/actress playing Francis and Clare deserve praise for not succumbing to the pressure. Singing
a capella can be nerve racking. Let's put it this way. Having a bad dress rehearsal in theatre lore usually indicates a fine debut performance and a winning run. All the mistakes ironed out. So, let's say that this is the specially rewarding review of the very next show, which hit a home run out of the park. I'm happy to say I had a very enjoyable time and was glad Lamma-Gung told me about this event. Well done everyone connected with this performance and God applauds you for doing it.
By the way, doing some sketchy research at home in my encyclopaedia on famous people, I found out that St. Clare is the patron saint of television. She was so honoured for
seeing and
hearing the Xmas Mass of 1252 at the Church of St. Francis in Assisi from her cell in the convent of San Damiano. What a final Christmas present for her that was!
Oh, by the way, Cardinal Zen is sick in hospital with the flu and couldn't perform the Mass today. He would have enjoyed the show as well and appreciated the underlying core values on display. So, once again, thanks to everyone who gave their time and effort in putting this together. I'm looking forward to your next show.
More photos in Lamma-zine, Aug 23, 2012.
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