PASSION PLAY.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 December 1925, Page 3

PASSION PLAY.

PERFORMANCE IN SYDNEY. SYDNEY', Dec. 10. An event of unusual interest, a tew days ago, was the pertormanee, in Sydney. by students of Biverview College, one ot the leading Roman Catholic Colleges in the State, of a Passion play, “Golgotha,” said to be the first produced in Australia. 'I he play, written by Father James Kavanugh, S.J., ot California, was witnessed by a packed audience, with no little curiosity and trepidation, for in presenting a play based on one ol the most moving ol religious themes, and pcrlonned by boy actors, there was the risk not only ot destroying the spirit ol reverence ot the play, but of also making the general dramatic effect ludicrous. Alike from the histrionic and emotional standpoints, the performance was flailed by the critics as a striking success. Bruce Anderson’s conception of Judas Iscariot, according to the critics, stamped him as a boy ot extraordinaiv 1 imagination and insight, and as one posessing the true dramatic sense. “The most touching scene of all in the play,” to quote one ot the leading Sydney papers, “is that when our I-oid appeals at the entrance to 1 date s j court—a silent, desolate figure. presented to the people by the Roman Governor with a view to moving their hearts to pity. The moment is just after the cruel scourging, which is supposed to have taken place off the stage. The disputing between the people, calling for the death of Christ, and Pilate, anxious to set. Him free, was cariiod qii tip to this point with revnurkfible

realism by the students, and the poignant sorrow of the Snored Figure, standing meekly at the portal, with hands bound and head crowned with thorns, as inexpressibly moving.” Their sincere and reverent interpretation of this most moving of all narratives is another of the many triumphs which the Riverview College boys have won for themselves. None of the words of Christ is spoken on the stage; His gentle greeting to the traitor Judas in the Garden of Gethseinane, and the last words on the Cross are spoken off the stage. The students who uttered these grave sentences did so with manifest and fitting dignity, according to the critics.