THEATRE
The Day the Pope Emptied Croy, Oran Mor, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
THREE STARS
June 1982 - and all the faithful of Croy are in Bellahouston Park to see Pope John Paul II. Well - almost all. Two teenage lads are in the local chapel, committing a venial sin: stealing the holy chalice. This act of sacrilege doesn't fizz on middle-class Ranald (Nathan Byrne) - not because he's a Protestant, but because he's declared himself an atheist-anarchist-punk. His defiantly spiky pink tuft of hair proves he's a rebel, right? It doesn't fizz on his wee Catholic sidekick, Bar, either. Bar (Keiran Gallagher) is off his head on glue but he's here with Ranald because (sssshh!) Bar's love for Ranald is the sort that dare not say its name out loud in chapel, or in his uber-macho working-class family, or indeed to the innately prissy Ranald.
Martin McCormick's play is rolling along, merry with banter about religion, family, the highs and lows of glue-sniffing when - Christ! or rather Chris (Sean Purden Brown), is discovered by the would-be thieves, and he isn't a glue-induced hallucination. The writing subsequently loses its comedic buoyancy and feels more like a work-in-progress, as McCormick shifts the emphasis from religious bigotry to violent homophobia. Gallagher's Bar softens and edges into confessional mode, in response to Chris's bruised and bloody experiences, but we already suspect who worked Chris over. When, in a fit of scared self-preservation, Bar turns Judas, it's really an attempt by McCormick to draw serious parallels between the acts of persecution society condones in the name of moral outrage.There's never going to be enough glue to let Bar escape from this reality, or his own nature - or a family who saw the Pope, but don't believe in redemption for homosexuals.
sponsored by Heineken
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article