Pope’s play tops Carnivale Christi fare

Sydney
20 April 2003

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Pope’s play tops Carnivale Christi fare

Life Theatre's John Gresser will appear in The Jeweller’s Shop

By Marilyn Rodrigues

The Australian premiere of The Jeweller’s Shop, a play written by Pope John Paul II, and the launch of Witness to Hope, a feature film on his life, will be the star attractions of this year’s Carnivale Christi.

They will be the opening and closing events of the week-long celebration of traditional and contemporary Catholic arts in May, in honour of the 25th anniversary of his papacy.

Festival director Anthony McCarthy says: “Our hope is that people will come on the opening night and be so blown away by The Jeweller’s Shop that they want to come to the second night’s event, and maybe even take in the whole week.”

Anthony, of Sydney University’s Catholic Chaplaincy, did not want to give too much away about the play - written by Karol Wojtyla before he became pope - except to say that it is “quite profound”.

He said it reveals the Pope’s lifelong interest in young people and their search for meaningful relationships - an interest that blossomed into his book, Love and Responsibility and, later, his Theology of the Body.

The play, directed by professional actor, writer and director Donald Macdonald, will feature some professional actors as well as members of the Catholic amateur theatre group Life Theatre.

The theme of this year’s Carnivale Christi is Seeking the face of Christ through the arts, which is, says Anthony, what Carnivale Christi is all about.

“We try to show something of the Church’s astounding heritage and tradition in the arts, and also encourage young people to develop their talents and their faith so that they can express the Church’s tradition in a contemporary way,” he says.

The festival is going interstate for the first time, performing in Sydney (May 2-10), then Brisbane (May 16-23) and Wagga (May 23-June 1). It opens in Melbourne in September.

Anthony says people generally enjoy cultural festivals. “It is much easier to bring someone along to a festival to explain a bit about your culture than to bring them to a talk or a lecture,” he says.

American Cardinal Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, will be guest speaker at the festival’s opening night in Sydney.