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Play: Temple at the Donmar Warehouse


Banner reads: What would Jesus do?

Banner reads: What would Jesus do?

The Donmar Warehouse is sold out for this play, but I queued on Tuesday morning and got a standing ticket - it's only 95 minutes and is so absorbing, standing is not hard. Before writing this, I have pondered much about the play. I plan to buy a copy of the script, so I can absorb more, as it is jam-packed with superb nuggetty phrases, coined and delivered perfectly by the peerless cast.

Does anyone remember Occupy? What were the issues? What was the dilemma which is being played out nightly on the Donmar stage?

Quoting from the Home Page of Occupy London's website:

Occupy London is part of a global movement that has brought together concerned citizens to fight for a new political and economic system that puts people, democracy and the environment before profit.
Occupy London began outside the London Stock Exchange in 2011.

Bearing in mind that London had been the scene of riots in that summer, and was preparing to welcome the world to the Olympics in 2012, the powers-that-be were very jittery. The police "moved" the protesters on and they were kettled onto St Paul's land.

A key issue at the time was that St Paul's, for almost the first time in its history, was closed for worship, because of the difficulty of "ingress and egress" ie Health and Safety. A Cathedral should be a centre of prayer, with the prayer cycle continuing daily.

The play is set the morning after the crucial Chapter meeting; we see the Dean ("Mr Dean, if you want to get the nomenclature right" he tells his new temporary and apparently rather ditsey PA) agonising over something. And that is essentially whether to act in concert with the Corporation of London to oust the Occupy camp. The deliberations of the Chapter are confidential of course. We see the Dean negotiating with Lizzie, the PA, to write up the notes, field calls and prepare for the Press conference, due at 1.30.

We are assured it is fictional but the dilemma in the play is that Chapter was split down the middle; the Dean has the casting vote, whether to side with the protesters or The City.

The Dean (played so magnificently by Simon Russell Beale) reflects on the awesome responsibilities he has towards the building and those working and worshipping in it; he only took up the role because he was asked to - and it seemed rude not to accept the invitation when it came in its brown envelope, which he had initially thought was from the Inland Revenue. He has relished his time in the City, the Livery Company events, the pomp and ceremony. He prepares to celebrate the Eucharist and to preach; it's the feast of SS Simon and Jude, Jude being the patron Saint of hopeless causes.

The Bishop arrives, an unbelievably silkily charming character, who has the luxury of "popping up" as a media person with little responsibility (according to the Dean); Malcolm Sinclair is at his most convincing. Could anyone imbue the words "flat white" with greater disdain when he asks for a coffee? He offers rather synthetic sympathy, prayers and a hug to the Dean, neither of which proves welcome. He suggests "going out among the protesters"; but the Dean responds bitterly that it is too late for a charm offensive.

There is a palpable sense - in the audience and through the play - that we want it all to end in a particular way; as the morning advances, the jeans-wearing Canon Chancellor (no one is named, but we all know this is Giles Fraser) and the scatty but amazingly thoughtful Temp try to win over the Dean to a sympathetic approach to the protest. The Canon Chancellor has resigned, and publicly, which I suspect, forces the issue. The Dean must have decided on the City's side at the Chapter meeting, or else why the resignation? But perhaps he was having second thoughts, in the morning. There is a vitriolic exchange of views between them about each the other's character; tears are shed, leading to a hug which is returned by the Dean, and they will celebrate the Eucharist together.

In the end the Dean takes on the mantle of Pilate, who having been an able administrator in a forgotten province of the Roman Empire, is remembered only for his one bad decision.

He sides with the City.

The brilliant cast also includes: Anna Calder-Marshall as the loyal verger who is pushed too far; Paul Higgins, fierce as the Canon Chancellor; Shereen Martin as the PA, whose Dad is vicar of Ashwell, and whose advice is at first welcomed but rejected by "Mr Dean" and two young choristers, named Simon and Jude, who sing a hymn for the Dean before he robes.

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