Murder In The Cathedral
St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral
Fri 7 March
Until Sat 15 March


There's a lot to be said for staging TS Eliot's famous play about the assassination of Thomas ˆ Beckett in a real Cathedral. It makes everything so authentic: the looming shadows between the pillars, the altar, the noticeable absence of air-conditioning.

A shame, then, that this production was entirely amateur in its execution. Eliot's words are stirring and poetic, but the Therry Dramatic Company, on the whole, reads as if they've never seen the text before. The Archbishop in particular is entirely flat and emotionless; he reminded me of nothing so much as a politician reading a policy statement he doesn't care overmuch about. It seems a mystery, when the costumes and props were clearly given a lot of time and effort, that a similar commitment hasn't been put into the performance. I've seen more lively English lit lectures.

Most disappointing is the murder scene itself. (I'm not giving anything away; look at the title.) The killing of an archbishop in his cathedral is the ultimate sacrilege, but here it's portrayed as some kind of slow, interpretive dance. Thomas even got up and walked off stage when it was done.

I mentioned the lack of air-con; audience turnout will suffer due to the unexpected heat wave. This is not the production's fault, of course, but that the performance is not interesting enough to keep wilting punters staying after the intermission certainly is. A creditable display of acting by the four soldiers at the end aside, 'Murder In The Cathedral' is a disappointment.

Henry Nicholls