Catholic themes in Edinburgh Fringe plays

Scene from It Folds

There are three compelling dramas infused with Catholicism at Summerhall in Edinburgh this Fringe: A Man Standing, Doubting Thomas and It Folds.

Paul Laverty, Ken Loach's award-winning screen-writer, who himself was educated at a Scottish junior seminary, had this to say about A Man Standing:

"Sometimes a play isn't just about the piece itself, but what is in your head, and maybe heart, when you cross with it. Over the last few days I have been hidden away trying to meet a deadline. But every coffee break the news I heard was more brutal than I could bear; bulletins about unaccompanied children in the camp at Calais, refugees mutilated, and the Russian /Syrian regime bombings of hospitals in Syria. Even by listening, and then imagining, you feel diminished as a human being.

On the first night of the Edinburgh festival I saw Jean Marc's face in 'A Man Standing.' In time I will forget the details, the format, the staging, but till my dying day I will not forget this man's eyes. Steeped in violence this soul has been to hell and back.

Those eyes. I killed, I destroyed. I didn't care. I tried to kill myself. Those eyes. I opened them up, read, began to see. Those eyes. I don't hide. I remember the little girl now an adult whose father I shot. Those eyes. 20 years in a cell. I will take responsibility for my life, all of it. Those eyes. I bear testimony to being treated like a dog. Those eyes. I will reach out to young lost men like my former self and help them see. Those eyes. I survived. I am a man. I live again outside my cell with you. I care. I will contribute. I love, and can be loved. Those eyes.

Just by meeting another man's eyes sometimes we are nourished. Beyond words."

A Man Standing bears an uncanny affinity with Doubting Thomas, another autobiographical piece in which Thomas McCrudden, a man with a tortured and violent past tells his own story. He does so in a rich and raw vernacular, and with some startling dramaturgy, ably supported by five other actors who all come themselves from grassroots backgrounds, the play being devised by the excellent Grassmarket Project, co-directed by Jeremy Weller and Mark Traynor. Humour and searing pain mingle viscerally and uncomfortably.

The themes of lost boys, violence, gangs, wearing masks, isolation, trauma, brokenness, the confrontation with one's self, the support of committed 'good samaritans', and the development of empathy suffuse both these plays. McCrudden comes from a Catholic background. During his rehabilitation, he seeks to help a Protestant gang member renounce his violent lifestyle, and is subjected to sectarian abuse. He replies: 'You and me, we're just the same.'

It Folds has come to the Fringe from Ireland, in a co-production from Brokentalkers and Junk Ensemble. The play starts with the ghost of a teenager who explains how he stopped going to Mass after an altercation with his PP (who stripped off to his pants in the sacristy to give a sort of 'post-match analysis' with the altar-servers) about when to ring the bell at the moment of consecration - or epiclesis as he kindly explains in a hilarious passage. Another striking Catholic moment is when an older woman and a younger intone the words of the Sanctus in English.

Overall, It Folds - which deals with love, loss, bereavement, fragmented lives and abuse - is characterised by a wonderful sense of play and creativity. I loved the pantomime horse and its antics; powerful dance and corporeal shape-shifting; and surreal and arresting images and forms created on stage.

Finally, the three above plays share another common preoccupation with masculinity which is foregrounded by the exciting female 'triumvirate' RashDash in their Two Man Show, also at Summerhall. Cue a mix of harangue, witty dialogue, cod-lectures, fraternal debate, and playful explorations of gender stereotypes, the whole performed with signature physical and vocal bravura and musical gusto.

All four productions playing at Summerhall, at the Edinburgh Fringe.

For details, visit the Summerhall website: .www.summerhall.co.uk/

Other Catholic themes are explored in: Among Women, a play about four women's reflections on Mary, on 13th and 14th August in St Patrick's Church, Cowgate.

Philip Crispin is a lecturer in Drama at the the University of Hull