The Sanctuary Lamp – Arcola Theatre, London

Writer & Director: Tom Murphy

Composers: Ivan Birthistle & Vincent Doherty

Reviewer: Jenni Rymer

The Public Reviews Rating:

‘The Sanctuary Lamp,’ written and directed by Tuam born Tom Murphy had its first production in 1975 where it both offended and amazed. Today the B*Spoke theatre company has brought this play back onto the stage at the Arcola Theatre in London.

It tells the story of three troubled individuals who find themselves seeking refuge in their local Catholic Church: There is an ex circus strongman desperate to relive happier times, a runaway teenager, and an Irish blackguard.

As you walk into the theatre you find yourself on an amazing set. You immediately feel like you are in a Church, and as a result you do not feel like you are a member of an audience, but instead a voyeur hiding in the background waiting to spy on what will befall amongst the empty pews.

This atmosphere is encouraged by the impressive lighting and sound effects that are consistent throughout. The lighting, designed by Ben Ormerod, conveys the different moods of the play perfectly, and the sound design by Ivan Birthistle and Vincent Doherty bring effective realism to the piece.

There are however not many other redeeming features to this production. This is predominately accountable to the persistent ramblings of the script which regularly don’t make any sense at all! The basis of this production is three people with severe personal issues. Watching this play felt like being trapped in a bad Irish bar with the random drunken dregs of society who are insistent in telling you of their misfortunes, when all you want to do is escape home.

At this juncture I would like to make it clear that I cannot fault the actors, as I felt they performed astoundingly with the wordy script they were tasked to convey. I actually found myself pitying them, especially Kate Brennan who plays teenage runaway, Maudie as she the main recipient of many of the other characters confusing ‘soap box’ episodes.

There were only two lines that evoked feeling for me- ex strongman Harry (Robert O’ Mahoney) – ‘You never feel your soul when you’re happy,’ and Irish blackguard Francisco- ‘God made the world but what has he done since.’ These profound statements were what I hoped the play would be full of, but to my disappointment it was not.

Instead it was full of the ranting choruses of two men who quite frankly needed to get over it. Don’t get me wrong, from what I could decipher the characters had suffered hardship in their lives, but I felt no sympathy for them. In fact when Maudie (Kate Brennan) climbs into the confessional to go to sleep, I was jealous as sleep was more desirable than watching the rest of the play.

The outstanding staging, sound, and lighting are the only redeeming features to this production. Overall it was uninspiring and pretentious to the point that it didn’t even make sense. ‘The Sanctuary Lamp’ tries too hard, and needs to back off the communion wine and concentrate on what really emotes an audience.