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| ABOUT TRaC |
MultiTRaC Fall 2004
Deposing A Region "SIN: A Cardinal Deposed" is a regional phenomenon. Its impact hinges on the cultural background of its audience. Like an inside joke, it can be appreciated but not fully understood unless you know the history. To know the history requires that you live or have lived in Massachusetts. Only then is he massive impact of the Catholic Church, its presence, its dependability, its sheer consistency in daily life, apparent. And only then is the betrayal of the people by the Catholic Church felt viscerally. That is not to say that the six person cast of the New York production is not capable. In fact, they go beyond capability, turning a deposition (which can generally be long, dry and boring) into riveting theatre. The deposition that inspired playwright Michael Murphy was a roughly 500-page long examination of Cardinal Law and his personal correspondence, ordered by a Massachusetts judge. In adapting the transcript into the play, Murphy has changed and dramatized most of the aspects, including assigning fictional names to the lawyers who represent the diocese and the abuse victims. He has Cardinal Law's correspondence represented in an emphatic way: actors Dan Daily and Cynthia Darlow portray assorted characters who read aloud the letters. The play succeeds because of the unexpected sympathy that John Cullum (Cardinal Law) evokes. Law's desperate efforts to protect the reputation of what he saw as his charge, the Church, and the consequential abandonment of his flock, are conveyed fully. Instead of painting him as a callous monster who enjoys the suffering of small children, Cullum's delicate performance shows him as a genteel figure trying desperately to preserve the reputation of one of the strongest dioceses in America. We are also shown his intelligence. We are totally aware that a man so intelligent would know what would happen when sexual predator priests were returned to situations in which they could freely abuse. That is what makes the character of Cardinal Law evil to us. It is not that he intended to harm his parishioners, it is that he valued public appearance more. Pablo T. Schreiber hammers this revelation home. Playing the character of Patrick McSorley, one of the most outspoken of the Massachusetts abuse sufferers, his quiet yet emphatic performance provides the perfect canvas on which to juxtapose Cardinal Law's word with the reality. Though he has only one monologue at the very end of the play, Schreiber is the vortex of all attention. After every statement made by Law, it is impossible not to look to him for a reaction. He is the play's litmus test. Still, through no fault of the actors, the visceral betrayal that was Cardinal Law's legacy is not completely felt. Unless an audience member has experienced the all-encompassing importance of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts, they cannot know how duplicitous and damaging the abuse scandal really was.
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