Review: Once A Catholic at the Tricycle Theatre

Once A Catholic
Tricycle Theatre
Reviewed on Wednesday 27th November 2013.

Having premiered at the Royal Court in 1977, the Tricycle have staged a revival of Mary J. O’Malley's Once A Catholic as their 2013/14 Christmas production (despite the production not being at all Christmassy - it's just a good excuse to have an interval mince pie). A comedy about religion is always going to raise a few eyebrows, but Once A Catholic is nowhere near as outrageous now as it would have been in 1977.

Set in The Convent of Our Lady of Fatima during 1957, Once A Catholic follows three of the girls from form 5A during their final year in uniform, before they are either accepted into the academic or secretarial sixth form. Two of the girls, Mary McGinty and Mary Gallagher, rebel against their faith - having boyfriends and so on - while the third, Mary Mooney, is the most innocent of the trio. Yet is is Mooney who always seems to find herself in the most trouble, and the malicious nuns almost enjoy punishing her. Of course Mooney doesn't help herself, at the end of act one she finds herself alone with McGinty's boyfriend, Derek (Calum Callaghan), and stupidly writes about the encounter in her diary...

Katherine Rose Morley, Molly Logan & Amy Morgan

Despite the play being quite choppy, at times I wondered if the interval was ever going to come. The play feels extremely long, far too long for what should be a fast-paced comedy. The endless set changes become tedious. Religion is the perfect topic for a comedy and the play actually raises some valid points. A particular highlight is Calum Callaghan's monologue/rant about Catholics presuming their religion is superior. Callaghan completely let go and earned himself a huge round of applause from the fairly tame press night audience.

I also loved the scenes shared between cringey music teacher Mr Emmanuelli (Richard Bremmer, pictured right alongside Molly Logan) and his students. The role is so small that I had completely forgotten about his existence before he re-entered during the second act. Molly Logan, Amy Morgan and Katherine Rose Morley all give strong performances as the three Marys. Their chemistry is superb and they find the right balance between performing with truth and playing up for laughs. A stand out performance also comes from Oliver Coopersmith as Gallagher's boyfriend, Cuthbert, whose name aptly sums up the role.

The main problem with Once A Catholic, which is perhaps the reason why it drags, is that it takes too long for any sort of underlying storyline to become established, making the piece feel very disconnected. The play is fairly funny, although I certainly wouldn't recommend it to a religious Catholic! Kathy Burke's production certainly provides something very different to enjoy over the festive season.

Reviewed by Andrew Tomlins (Editor)

andrew@westendframe.com

Click here to read West End Frame's interview with cast member Calum Callaghan.

Once A Catholic runs at the Tricycle Theatre until Saturday 18th January 2014. 

Please visit www.tricycle.co.uk for further information and tickets.

Photo Credit: Simon Turtle

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