Sick clerical comedy

Press, 9 March 1978, Page 6

Sick clerical comedy

By

HOWARD McNAUGHTON

“Flint,” by David Mercer. Directed by Brian Deavoll for the University of Canterbury Drama Society; Ngaio Marsh Theatre, March 8-18. Running time: 8.00-10.30. z The Individual versus the Establishment is a. motif that recurs in much of Mercer’s drama, and in this play, premiered in 1970, the context is that of the Anglican Church. The title character is a vicar who has lost his faith, and, through a dramatic welter of sick comedy, blasphemy, and pathos, the psychological trauma is given a social and. comic context. Through such techniques, Mercer has gained a reputation as a foremost British writer of off-beat comedy, though his achievement is still contentious: in this play, for example, it is not diffii cult to see a good deal of borrowing from the early plays |of Edward Bond. \ The questionable stature of i the playwright is important 'in understanding audience i response to this production, land it would take several jdays of thought and rereading

of the script before one could state confidently the limitations of last night’s performance; the extremes of naturalism and stylisation which one sees in the acting, for example, are not compatible here, and yet one cannot be certain which better suits Mercer’s purposes. Similarly, several scenes were blurred either by the ■playwright's awkward sense ■of tempo or by the cast’s i miscalculation of pace — I which, one cannot be sure. ! However, there are also numerous good things about the production, and last night’s large 'audience showed an encouraging level of satisfaction. ! Foremost is Arthur Chap-

man's performance ef the title part, an excellent, credible, and at times amusing study in spiritual decay. As his latest girl, Maryrose Wilkinson gives a performance of creditable quality, and most of their scenes together are very effective. Susan Curnow and Robyn Nicholas make partial sense of the vicar’s domestic chaos, and Stuart Aiderton contributes an interesting brief scene in the Bishop’s office. Of the production effects, two were sensational enough to draw spontaneous applause, but to describe them would be to undermine their effect.

Personal taste is obviously of vital importance with this play. Some of it is undeniably cheap and crude, though that is no doubt intentional: : the whole thing is an un- > savoury study of “an un- ■ savoury person.” At its core, : I find it lacking in the in- ■ tense sympathy that writers like Graham Greene genera le t in studies of similar clerical . degenerates; Mercer would no doubt insist that his puri poses are vastly different from Greene’s, but for me at least they remain somewhat , elusive.