London: new play on Edmund Campion

St Edmund Campion

The Catholic Association of Performing Arts, will be performing a rehearsed reading of a new play about St Edmund Campion at the Club for Acts and Actors, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, on Wednesday 6 October at 8pm.

John Warnaby, who recently played the Home Secretary in Plague over England at the Duchess Theatre in the West End, leads the cast as Edmund Campion, the Elizabethan scholar and courtier who became a Jesuit priest and was hunted down and martyred.

The play is written by Peter Hardwick, a former teacher at Stoneyhurst School. Lord Alton, a personal friend of the author, contacted actor Michael Slater who is the Associations' Master of Ceremonies and has directed previous productions at the CAA, to ask about performing the play. Lord Alton hopes to attend the dramatised reading if the business of the House of Lords permits.

In the wake of the Papal state visit Mr Slater thought that it was a chance to reflect on a time when Roman Catholics, who now play a vibrant and vital part in British society; suffered persecution for their faith.

Admission is free to the event but there will be a retiring collection to support the work of CaApa, formerly the Catholic Stage Guild, which provides practical and spiritual support to members and associates of the entertainment industry. The Association celebrates its centenary next year.