Reviewers (including myself) often like to prattle on about how relevant an old play is to today, but in staging T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral at Oxford Playhouse so soon after the recent argy-bargy between Donald Trump and Pope Leo, Oxford Theatre Guild have got their timing spot on.
First performed in 1935, the play tells the story of the final weeks of the life of Archbishop Thomas Becket, which culminates in his assassination in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 due to his falling out with King Henry II.
The misty, dark stage, lit only by an ominous, life-size, neon-lit crucifix, is the perfect setting for the actors dressed in costumes alternating between 1170, 1935 and even 2026, when the soldiers return in their civvies in an attempt to convince us, in true Trumpian style, that their violent deed was perfectly reasonable and rational.
In the build up to the murder however, we see the tussle between church and state from different perspectives: everyday folk represented by 14 women (Women of Canterbury) who speak eerily in unison about their concerns; a group of clerics who try to steer Becket towards their preferred course of action; and four separate, ghostly apparitions known as the Tempters, who alternately encourage Becket to choose safety, power, fame and glory.
These hooded figures with their echoey voices add to the tension by pacing around the wracked Archbishop as he considers his fate, as Becket’s own internal debates are aired as the man at the centre of this impossible situation, actor Nick Fyson shining in this central role.
There are also welcome musical interludes featuring sublime but foreboding medieval choral chanting, which only adds to the successful mix of the different styles and eras that Eliot’s diverse, linguistic stylings call for – take a bow director Simon Tavener. A timely and yes, relevant treat.
Edward Bliss
MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL by OTG is at Oxford Playhouse until Saturday April 25. https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/murder-in-the-cathedral
