Saturday 12 November 2011

27 - Abi Morgan

The basis for this play is a convent of present-day nuns who become a case study for scientists studying Alzheimers; the plot covers a span of 5 years, and investigates the tension between religious faith and scientific progress, centered on a young nun named Ursula.

I found the ideas brought forward in the play to be compelling and thought-provoking, with various characters embodying not only the poles of the debate, but the two main characters embodying the conflict within themselves. I did, however, find that stylistically this was problematic. Morgan uses a Churchill style interruption technique in conversations, but I found it was oddly inconsistent in its present. Similarly she sets up the play with Richard (lead researcher) Addressing the audience; this holds up a fair bit at first, but then is almost lost around the middle of the play..then re-surfaces toward the end again. I found this rather confusing while reading, and feel it may be problematic to stage coherently for that reason.

Overall an interesting read, but likely not a play whose language will stay with me.

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