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From issue: November 2000

Staging Drama in Churches

by Jean Garner

Dramatic productions in three Canterbury churches emphasised their worth as heritage buildings.

Most of the time, churches are places of worship which have spiritual value to particular congregations. Dramatic productions are one way of extending the use of church buildings into the wider community and bringing into them people who would not normally enter their doors.

The Murder of Thomas a Becket in the St John of God production of TS. Eliot's play. Photo: June Goldstein

In the 1990s Lesley McMillan, a Christchurch producer, staged one play in three venues registered by the Historic Places Trust.

The St John of God Chapel, between Halswell and Christchurch, is in the centre of a group of hospital buildings. Dating from 1910-12, it was designed for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd by Christchurch architects Sidney and Alfred Luttrell. The Chapel was built in the perpendicular Gothic style. It contains forty-three windows made by VX Zetter and Co. of Munich which were installed in 1926.

The Chapel's Gothic architecture and the beauty of its windows prompted the suggestion in 1995 that it be the venue for a production of T.S. Eliot's verse drama, Murder in the Cathedral. The play is based on the death in 1170 of Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is set in Canterbury Cathedral and the nearby Archbishop's Hall. The Chapel provided a mediaeval setting and the required ecclesiastical atmosphere.

In the St John of God production of Murder in the Cathedral, effective use was made of the church's two altars. Photo: June Goldstein

Producing the play in the chapel presented difficulties, although none was insuperable. The building was designed to seat three congregations: in the nave, and in the left and right transepts. The cast had therefore to project themselves to people seated on three sides. Because the Chapel was designed to give each of its congregations a clear view of the sanctuary, the only area which could serve as wings was behind the carved, Italian marble, high altar, where two doors led to small robing rooms. To cope with this, props were kept to a minimum and the outer doors in the nave and right transept were also used for access.

Players entering from behind drew the audience into the action.

The third obstacle was that the high altar and the smaller one in front of it were immovable. However, the actors could move with freedom around the altars and integrate them into the play. The lower altar served as a table and the high altar became, spectacularly, the backdrop for Becket's murder.

The Chapel's excellent acoustics were a major asset. The building was originally designed with women's voices in mind which was a boon as the chorus of women which comments on the proceedings has a key role. The choir gallery meant that, as Eliot wished, music could accompany the text.

The dominant window in the Chapel's left transept is entitled "Suffer little children to come unto me". This is also the subject of a stained glass window in St John's Church, Hororata, a rural community west of Christchurch. The Hororata window is dedicated to the memory of Sir John Hall, a former resident of the district and one of New Zealand's leading nineteenth century politicians.

The two windows having the same text triggered the staging of a performance in the Hororata church, but there was also an historical connection between the two buildings. In his will, Hall, an ecumenist, left money to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd for their work at what was then called the Mount Magdala Asylum, and also bequeathed the funds to build a new church at Hororata. St John's is Gothic in style and dates from 1911. It was designed by Cyril Mountfort, son of the early Canterbury architect, Benjamin Mountfort.

Moving to another venue with different architectural features required changes to the production. The cast had to adapt their moves to a smaller environment where the only means of entrance was down one central aisle. But the five steps in the sanctuary presented exciting possibilities, as the tempters could be placed on different levels. The closer proximity of the cast to the audience made for a more intimate and devotional presentation than at St John of God.

In the Christchurch Cathedral production of the play a raked stage was constructed specially for the performance. Photo: Collection of Lesley McMillan

Early in 1997, an invitation from the Christ Church Cathedral Chapter gave Lesley the opportunity to present the play there with a different cast. The grand scale of George Gilbert Scott's architecture provided a setting to match Eliot's language. The addition of a modest raked platform to give elevation was the only substantial change made to the ordinary arrangement of the sanctuary.

That the performance was taking place in a Cathedral emphasised the liturgical aspects of the play. Even before the play proper began, the choristers' singing of specially composed plainsong heightened the sense of being in an ecclesiastical and mediaeval world.Similarly, the procession of acolytes with traditional banners followed by monks and a prior marked the passage of holy days on a grander scale than had been possible in the other two venues. More importantly, though, different groups of characters could enter from different directions. To avoid problems with sight lines, the audience sat in the central nave. The players' use of the wider building accentuated the audience's inclusion in the drama.

Special features of the Cathedral's architecture became an integral part of the performance. The sermon in the middle of the play was delivered from the pulpit. Most dramatic of all, the knights who came to murder Becket were able to announce their presence by knocking loudly on doors carved by Frederick Gurnsey, possibly the greatest European carver to have worked in New Zealand.

Using historic buildings for drama bridged barriers in the community and was, at the same time, an unconscious exercise in heritage education. In focusing on the play, sectarian differences and the gap between town and country became irrelevant. For casts and audiences the atmosphere generated by the architecture was a vital dimension in their experience. In particular, the teenage members of the casts have the venues and participation in successful performances inextricably locked together in their memories. In all cases, those responsible for maintaining the buildings were delighted that people other than their regular congregations gained pleasure from using them.

Jean Garner is a Canterbury historian who works at Lincoln University. She wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Kate Foster, Lesley McMillan and Ken Woodhead in writing this article.