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I could not find anyone who
wanted to accompany me to the opening night of Ron Blair's 1975 play The
Christian Brothers.
I must confess it took a certain amount of pluck to get myself there -
the inner wound of sexual abuse exposed during the past decade in child
care institutions affects us all. But this putative classic Australian
drama predates the scandals. It poignantly illumines the flawed, fragile,
messy nature of authentic vocation. And - to the compassionately inclined
- spotlights symptoms in the culture of Catholic education which led to
abuse of children.
John Bell's production of The Christian Brothers redefines the comedy
of Blair's lines with new pathos. The ubiquitous strap, used for everything
from refreshing boys' memory of poetry homework to punishing smart alec
remarks, raises few laughs now. Instead the teacher's frustration comes
to the fore.
As his 'victim' refuses to get up after a particularly savage strapping
the Christian Brother cries: "I'm sick to death of hitting you... There
must be some way of educating you". Catholic education in the 50s was
a costly, passionate and subversive response to what Thomas Keneally has
described as a wealth of prejudice against the Irish or Catholic minority
on the grounds of their politics, their manners and their religion. The
Christian Brother pleads with his class (the audience) to seize the chance
of an education scraped for by parents and for which the Brothers have
given their life's work.
"At the State schools after the last bell, the teachers go home to their
wives and forget all about you. At the end of the week they think about
their pay cheque and at the end of their lives their superannuation. But
boys, the Brothers give you all the time in the world. That's why I can't
understand why some blokes never come back to see you..."
Peter Carroll first played the 70-minute solo performance as the Christian
Brother in its Sydney premiere 28 years ago. He was educated by the Marist
Brothers in the 50s and describes the language of the play as complex,
exact and startlingly truthful to the rhythms of the classroom.
After the Brisbane premiere a middle-aged man in the audience blurted
out: "That took me straight back to Grade 7!" Half a century on, the Christian
Brother's agonising about his sense of vocation - "I'm going to teach
these kids and bring them up in the knowledge and love of God" - sounds
a mite old-fashioned. But the line: "People out there are fighting to
believe in something" is keenly topical. There are no cheap shots.
Fun lines depend on their perennial truthfulness: "Chastity's relatively
simple if you're busy". Peter Carroll maintains the gravitas even in his
most mischievous line: "Things can get pretty rugged in a convent... I'm
glad I'm not a nun". The Christian Brother's pedagogy on women sounds
quaint, but a nugget of theological wisdom appears at the heart of it.
With his lighter he sets fire to a tabloid photo of a woman in bathing
costume, confiscated from boys in the playground. But, Carroll assures
his 'class' as he dumps the remains in the waste-paper-bin, the woman
in the photo is essentially no different from the Blessed Virgin Mary
except for her state of undress. Chalk squeals on the giant blackboard
as the elderly Brother declines the verb "to undress" in French. But in
the end it is he who undresses, stripping off soutane, stock and collar,
to plead his case as a man.
To complain that The Christian Brothers lacks credibility because it does
not tackle child sexual abuse, is as absurd as complaining (as my excellent
socialist English teacher once did) that Jane Austen lacks credibility
because she did not address the Napoleonic wars which were changing the
balance of power in Europe while she wrote her novels.
One might just as well complain that the six o'clock news had no relevance
to the state of the world.
The
Christian Brothers, a Sydney Theatre Company production, is playing
at the Cremorne Theatre in Brisbane until March 22, followed by a regional
tour taking in Caloundra, Toowoomba, country NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
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