The Saint Mary MacKillop play
The Saint Mary MacKillop play. Possibly Australia's first feminist; certainly a role model to women and men alike.
“This is not a world of black and white themes. Entertaining and evocative, it avoids cheap pieties and shallow sentiments.
MacKillop is a tough but gracious woman, shrewd but deeply compassionate, leaving the audience with a sense of admiration.
What transpires is surprising and satisfying”
THE AQUINAS ACADEMY
“This is not a world of black and white themes. Entertaining and evocative, it avoids cheap pieties and shallow sentiments.
MacKillop is a tough but gracious woman, shrewd but deeply compassionate, leaving the audience with a sense of admiration.
What transpires is surprising and satisfying”
THE AQUINAS ACADEMY
St Mary MacKillop, Australia's First Saint
Indeed, Australia's only saint to date - had a dream but certainly not a dream run to heaven.
All Mary MacKillop wanted was to live the dream, but to others - the staunch hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church - she was a nightmare.
What Mary MacKillop didn't count on was the degree of obstruction that would stand in her way - opposition from the very people whose sacred task it was to help her.
And for sure, St Mary MacKillop didn't expect to be humiliated and excommunicated, making it necessary for her to disguise herself and travel to Rome to confront the reigning pontiff, Pope Pius IX, in an attempt to brazen out the storm she endured over the years it took her to found and have recognised a religious order of women who would educate the young of wild and remote places in Australia.
Mary MacKillop was Australia's Martin Luther. The antipodean Thomas More. A woman for all seasons. But her holiness (the lower case is deliberate) takes this dramatic narrative in an unexpected direction.
her holiness is structured so that it takes place in a double time frame: the 18th Century and the 21st Century.
In 2008, one hundred and forty years after Mary MacKillop, another young Australian woman, Anna, goes to Rome with a passionate mission to seek an audience with Pope Benedict in order to push for the final steps of Mary MacKillop's case for canonisation
But like Mary, Anna has a few boundaries to cross.
First, she is a convert from Christianity to Islam, a predicament not guaranteed to thrill the new German pope.
When, owing to a terror alert, the USA President is forced to cancel a visit to the Pontiff, Benedict suddenly has some rare time on his hands and, captivated by the young visitor from Australia, grants her a longer audience than she expected.
But what Anna also did not expect was the intensity of interrogation regarding her conversion, and the discovery by the Pope of a personal aspect of Anna's life which she had dearly hoped to keep secret.
Mary MacKillop was eventually canonised in 2010.
Mary's and Anna's stories converge in a powerful drama about Australia then and now.
her holiness is the Mary MacKillop play and a lot more.
her holiness is written by award winning playwrights Justin Fleming & Melvyn Morrow.
A sample script of her holiness is available here.
ORiGiN™ Theatrical is the exclusive agent for her holiness. Contact ORiGiN™ Theatrical.
Indeed, Australia's only saint to date - had a dream but certainly not a dream run to heaven.
All Mary MacKillop wanted was to live the dream, but to others - the staunch hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church - she was a nightmare.
What Mary MacKillop didn't count on was the degree of obstruction that would stand in her way - opposition from the very people whose sacred task it was to help her.
And for sure, St Mary MacKillop didn't expect to be humiliated and excommunicated, making it necessary for her to disguise herself and travel to Rome to confront the reigning pontiff, Pope Pius IX, in an attempt to brazen out the storm she endured over the years it took her to found and have recognised a religious order of women who would educate the young of wild and remote places in Australia.
Mary MacKillop was Australia's Martin Luther. The antipodean Thomas More. A woman for all seasons. But her holiness (the lower case is deliberate) takes this dramatic narrative in an unexpected direction.
her holiness is structured so that it takes place in a double time frame: the 18th Century and the 21st Century.
In 2008, one hundred and forty years after Mary MacKillop, another young Australian woman, Anna, goes to Rome with a passionate mission to seek an audience with Pope Benedict in order to push for the final steps of Mary MacKillop's case for canonisation
But like Mary, Anna has a few boundaries to cross.
First, she is a convert from Christianity to Islam, a predicament not guaranteed to thrill the new German pope.
When, owing to a terror alert, the USA President is forced to cancel a visit to the Pontiff, Benedict suddenly has some rare time on his hands and, captivated by the young visitor from Australia, grants her a longer audience than she expected.
But what Anna also did not expect was the intensity of interrogation regarding her conversion, and the discovery by the Pope of a personal aspect of Anna's life which she had dearly hoped to keep secret.
Mary MacKillop was eventually canonised in 2010.
Mary's and Anna's stories converge in a powerful drama about Australia then and now.
her holiness is the Mary MacKillop play and a lot more.
her holiness is written by award winning playwrights Justin Fleming & Melvyn Morrow.
A sample script of her holiness is available here.
ORiGiN™ Theatrical is the exclusive agent for her holiness. Contact ORiGiN™ Theatrical.