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AT the Centre of Light the Mary MacKillop story
By Rosemary Johns
Bold jack and Twelfth Night production
Twelfth Night Theatre
Cintra Road
Bowen Hills
Brisbane

THE publicity blurb insisted that “this is not a religious story, but a captivating story of an extraordinary life.”
But, to set the record straight, it is a highly religious story. It has to be of course being the biography of a 19th century nun who is about to become Australia’s first saint.
The play runs 90 minutes and tells Mary MacKillop’s story in a pretty detailed way.
It told how she was the daughter of Scottish migrants who had a vision of the Virgin Mary and said God had told her to become a nun and then went on to found the Josephite order; got excommunicated and finally went to Rome to talk to Pope Pius IX in order to get her Order back.
But where the details were interesting there was never the feeling that here was a giant of a woman of history. The story didn’t penetrate inside the outer shell.
She is known to be a feisty stubborn woman, but the script by Rosemary Johns, had her doing as her male masters told her and doing it with a smile. There seemed little feistiness about her.
But then the language of the play didn’t give anyone much scope. It is stylised and poetic, which meant that it sounded pretty, but each character spoke very much like the other.
Peter Stratford as the Pope sat on stage in papal formality and spoke in the same formal tones. He did give us an insight to the times and the misogynistic attitude of the Catholic Church’s Vatican rulers in the 1800s and the attitude of Rome to Australia – Pius found it difficult even to say the word, preferring to cal it the English convict settlement of New South Wales. He had a few dry comedy lines and used them well.
Marys’s father, Alexander was very much against Mary becoming a nun because she was a good worker and was helping to pay of his debts. Phil Roberts, who played Alexander MacKillop and several other minor roles, carried a huge Janus puppet around on his back. I suppose it was meant to be symbolism, but it just seemed to get in the way.
Carolyn Bock was good as Mary and had very much the angelic look that Mary had in the old sepia photos.
Lee Mason played the other character vital to Mary’s story, her mentor, and friend Father Julian Tenison Woods. He presented the character of a very mixed up man very well, except for a bit over acting when Woods fell ill and sent the bewildered Mary off to Rome. Much of their later relationship depended on letters and Rosemary Johns did excellent research and used the text if the letters in her script.
They forged a strange relationship as he helped her with one hand and punished her with the other.
This is pretty much a play for Catholics for whom Mary is a true saint and for people who know the story of Mary well. I didn’t see enough in it to appeal to mainstream theatre goers.
The story was interesting, but not engrossing; there was enough of it though to run the full 90 minutes without it becoming boring, but exciting it was not.
I’m sure that the Catholic schools, clergy, and religious will enjoy every minute of it. After all the Blessed Mary MacKillop is an important figure on Australian Catholic history. She will be country’s first official saint.
It’s on at the Twelfth Night Theatre for a limited season. Tickets are available now at the Twelfth Night Theatre on 3252 5122.
www.absolutetheatre.com.au