Theatre: Forgiveness in the toughest of times
From left: Adeel Akhtar, Lyndsey Marshal, Monica Dolan and Paul Hilton in the stage version of Mass at the Donmar Theatre.
RICHARD HUBERT SMITH
The title Mass has a deep double meaning, alluding to the kind of crime (“mass shooting”) that connected the families but also to the Eucharist, and specifically its celebration of reconciliation.
In decades of theatre-going, I have rarely experienced the tense, attentive, total silence filling the Donmar theatre during its latest production – the sensation strengthened by having just stepped from the summer-noisy streets of London’s Covent Garden. This solemn noiselessness might be called church-like – appropriately, as the play takes place within a parish hall and is called Mass (until 6 June). But there is much more coughing and squirming than there would be during most religious services.
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