| Scott Stechschulte and Kat Albert in Lionface’s ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ (Photo: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune) |
In "Murder in the Cathedral" T.S. Eliot brings us inside the mind of a martyr, and the minds of
his murderers.
"Murder," being produced by Lionface Productions, tells of the murder of Thomas Becket,
archbishop of Canterbury, by knights loyal to Henry II. While set in the 12th century and inspired by a
historic event, this is no history play. For all the verbiage, much of it poetry of the highest order,
the audience never gets more than a vague sense of the issue between the king and archbishop, other than
it involves the church’s power and perquisites.
As Pat Mahood playing one of Becket’s killers explains, in a later time, we would side with the king in
an issue of conflict between civil and church authority.
This is not a later time, and Becket, played with resolve tinged with doubt, by Scott Stechschulte, is
clearly the hero, a man standing on principle against overbearing authority.
"Murder in the Cathedral," directed by Elizabeth Singer Rohrs, is being staged, appropriately
in the Trinity United Methodist Church, 200 N. Summit St., Bowling Green, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 and $5 for students and seniors.
As the play opens Becket has been in exile for seven years in France because of the dispute with Henry
II. Rumors abound that he has returned.
The chorus of village women – Meghan Koesters, Trina Friedberg and Katy Schlegal – anticipate his return
with some hope that it will better their situation, but also with trepidation that it will make their
tenuous state, even worse.
They are subject to the whims of nature and God and royalty, and are left "living and partly
living."
When they express the wish that Becket slip back to France, they are scolded by a priest (Colton
Watkins).
Told by the messenger (Brittany Pausch) that Becket is on his way, the priests – Rick Bush, Watkins and
David Fryling – are ecstatic to have their leader return.
But Becket in turn scolds the priest for his reaction to the women.
It is clear Becket is in emotional turmoil. He knows his defiance will prompt a reaction.
Eliot dramatizes his internal conflicts with a series of visions who come to tempt him.
The first, played by Mahood, advises him to fall back on the courtly life of hedonistic pleasure and ease
that he enjoyed at court early in life. The second (Chase Greenlee) urges him to make peace with the
king, assuming again the earthly power he had when he was chancellor and helped Henry consolidate the
king’s power.
The third comes in the form of a country baron played by Michael Porteus with a limp and gruff, blunt
eloquence. He wants Becket to lead the barons in challenging the king.
The fourth, the one Becket did not expect, tempts him with his own desires. Played with seductive cunning
by Kat Albert, she tempts him with a vision of his martyrdom, of pilgrims lined up to worship at his
jeweled tomb.
"Make yourself the least on earth to be the highest in heaven," she says.
Knowing the history, we know how this ends.
Act II opens with Becket’s Christmas sermon, a reflection on celebrating the Holy Day commemorating the
birth of Jesus with the mass, which celebrates his death.
Those who tempted him, return as the knights who will kill him.
The priests defy Becket and try to force him to safety. Becket replies: "It is the just man who like
the bold lion is without fear."
Becket faces his death, and then in turn murderers, peasants and priests each have their say, leaving the
poetry heavy in the air as the priests remove Becket’s body from the altar of his martyrdom.
