AUSTRALIA
The West Australian
THEATRE
The Last Confession
By Roger Crane
2.5 stars
His Majesty’s Theatre
Review: David Zampatti
The sudden death of the first Pope John Paul, Cardinal Albino Luciani, in September 1978 left a disquieting aftertaste. An apparently healthy man of 65, barely a month into his papacy, he died in contradictory circumstances while Vatican scandals lurked in the shadows.
After a whodunit? This could be a doozy.
Trouble is, The Last Confession is an awfully convoluted one, constructed around real, well-known, figures of the recent past. That gives its writer, Roger Crane, a lot of work to do, and precious little historical wriggle room in which to do it.
I’ve never seen – heard is more accurate – a play with so much exposition. The weight of it nearly crushes the life out of the drama. It’s not helped by a big cast, mostly men in scarlet cassocks. I half expected Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition to burst in at any moment.
The result is a someone-might- have-dunit; the play’s conspiracy theory goes no further than implying that there might have been one. Various cardinals with an axe to grind grumble in Vatican corridors but we are given no real evidence that any or all of them gave the unfortunate John Paul the chop, or even that any chop was given.
All of which is frustrating for the play’s detective, the energetic Cardinal Giovanni Benelli. As Crane’s story goes, at least, he has passed on the chance to ascend the papal throne in favour of the modest, good-humoured Luciani (the characterisation overtly emphasises Luciani’s similarities to the popular qualities of the current pontiff) and is about to accept the position of Vatican Secretary of State when his new boss is found dead in the papal apartment.
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