Her Holiness

When director John Senczuk chanced to meet Sister Pauline Morgan of the Sisters of St Joseph in WA, she lamented that Perth had not publicly celebrated the canonization of St Mary McKillop.

Recalling the Her Holiness, which he had designed, Senczuk decided to mount the production.

The short multi-venue tour ran over Holy Week, and it was surprising that this well-constructed play was not playing to capacity crowds and that it wasn’t compulsory viewing for Religious Education students.

A relatively faithful retelling of Mary’s story, it contrasts her life against a modern contemporary, a rebel journalist questioning the delay on her canonization, played by the same actor.

Caitlin Beresford-Ord played Mary McKillop with obstinate determination in a bravura performance in which she rarely left the stage.

While Mary along with Beresford-Ord’s other role, Anna Detweiler, remain the focus throughout; there was a strong supporting ensemble.

Standouts included Brendan Ewing who played the sometime supporter comer villain that was Father Julian Tennison Woods, with conviction and believability, while John Aitken was excellent as Pope Pius IX of Mary’s time and the incumbent Benedict XVI.

While costuming evoked reality, the settings were left largely to the imagination and were extreme in their simplicity, allowing the text to take focus.

A simple and beautiful tribute to a remarkable Australian woman that provides food for thought and discussion.

Kimberley Shaw

Image: Brendon Ewing, Caitlin Beresford-Ord and Jay Walsh

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