The anti-Catholic invective of Tom Murphy’s The Sanctuary Lamp provoked outrage across Ireland when it debuted in Dublin in 1975. Today, the religious overtones of the play perhaps resonate less with The Arcola’s modern-day audience. Nevertheless the B*spoke Theatre Company’s production presents a powerful, spiritual exploration of the Catholic Church.
A trio of lost characters are left overnight in a shadowy, abandoned church: Harry, a former circus strongman, who has been offered the job of church clerk by a Monsignor; Francisco, an Irish blackguard and a former acquaintance of Harry; and Maudie, a run-away waif struggling to come to terms with the death of her illegitimate child.
Harry, whose job it is to keep the sanctuary lamp alight at all times, is desperate to find spiritual solace in the Church and his religious longings contrast poignantly with Francisco’s vehement dismissal of the clergy.
Set against the backdrop of a world where institutionalised religion has ultimately failed, each lost soul struggles to come to terms with the human condition and to understand the riddle of fate and destiny. While the rigorous discipline of Catholicism offers no comfort, it is the indefinable spiritual creed of the Church that allows the individual lost souls to confront their despair.
Monica Frawley’s austere set presents an eerily realistic copy of a darkened Church, complete with booming recesses and sinister echoes. Within this setting Robert O’Mahoney, Declan Conlon, Kate Brennan and Bosco Hogan perform admirably.
Tom Murphy’s The Sanctuary Lamp, Arcola Theatre, 27 Arcola Street, Dalston E8 2DJ, Until 3 April, 8pm. Tickets £16, Concs £10. Tuesday, ‘Pay what you can,’ subject to availability.
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