Mass 29 March 2009
I ‘got’ Mass yesterday courtesy of a Rough Magic Theatre production – SOLEMN MASS FOR A FULL MOON IN SUMMER was the grand title (I THINK…the title is a long one, so you have to be careful). It was a tour de force production even if I had a few quibbles with the play. It was, of course, a Mass and a modern take on that and a revelation of life and love and all of what goes with those. The actors and production were superb. Reminded me also of when Saturday became the day you could ‘get’ Mass. I was dragged up an Irish Catholic – no great hardship really as we were quite irreligious in my immediate clan and it was just something you DID – and ‘getting’ Mass on a Sunday was one of the things you had to do – I actually think it was a way for my Mum and Dad to get rid of us for at least an hour every so often (well, reliably, once a week). Then the rule changed and it didn’t HAVE to be on a Sunday and if you went to Mass on a Saturday evening – round teatime usually – you were sorted for your religious duty. SO yesterday I went to a matinee of that show and it was a Mass and, should I like to lash myself with any sort of late onset Catholic guilt now, I GOT Mass yesterday = sorted!
