{"id":16256,"date":"2014-08-21T21:12:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T11:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=16256"},"modified":"2014-08-21T21:14:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T11:14:28","slug":"the-last-confession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=16256","title":{"rendered":"The Last Confession"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tagarts\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"thelastconfession\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This week I was fortunate enough to watch one of my favourite actors since childhood – the indomitable David Suchet – perform at QPAC in Jonathan Church’s production of The Last Confession<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The show is a two hour mystery thriller about the curious election of Pope John Paul I in 1978 and his unexpected death just 31 days into his reign.\u00a0 Suchet plays the role of Cardinal Benelli, a proud and influential man in the conclave who we meet at the start of the film writing a confession on his death bed.\u00a0 Benelli is a good and just man but he is wracked with guilt and before he meets his maker he tells his story to The Confessor.\u00a0 We travel back in time and witness the events unfold as Benelli recalls them with brief interludes as he exchanges words with The Confessor.\u00a0 The show is laid out like a Vatican version of A Christmas Carol\u00a0<\/em>in that way.<\/p>\n

The story begins at the end of Pope Paul VI’s reign.\u00a0 Paul has been the Pope for fifteen years but he is filled with remorse during his final days as he laments the inaction and lack of progress made by the Catholic Church during his reign.\u00a0 He feels gridlocked by the Vatican Council which is conservative, corrupt and primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo.\u00a0 The Council refuses to condemn dictators in South America or communists in Russia for fear of alienating cardinals in these regions.\u00a0 They are financially involved with an unscrupulous American businessman named Bishop Marcinkus, a character inspired by Michele Sindona, a man with mafia ties who served as the Vatican’s financial consultant.\u00a0 Marcinkus sells the Vatican Bank at an undervalued price in exchange for dubious favours for the church.\u00a0 As society began to rapidly change and liberalize in the Seventies, the Council remain steadfast in maintaining their views, condemning the first child born via artificial insemination.\u00a0 Only a lone cardinal, Albino Luciani, vocalizes his support.\u00a0 The Pope shares his concerns with Benelli and he proposes that the burden of responsibility to move the church forward fall on Benelli.\u00a0 Benelli declines.<\/p>\n

When Pope Paul VI passes away and the conclave gathers to elect the next pope, Benelli influences the voting blocks of the Africans, the South Americans and the liberals to elect Luciani.\u00a0 Unambitious and unsure why he has been given the seat of power, Luciani reluctantly accepts the nomination and becomes Pope John Paul I.\u00a0 This move infuriates the conservative cabal of Cardinals Baggio, Felici and Villot.\u00a0 After manufacturing the Pope’s election, Benelli fully expects to be made Secretary of State but is too proud to ask for the position.\u00a0 Instead, he opts to leave Rome, knowing full well that he is leaving Pope John Paul I amongst hostile enemies in the Vatican.\u00a0 Pope John Paul I turns out to be even more liberal than anyone expects and when he faces constant stonewalling and insubordination from the conservative establishment of the Vatican, he strips Baggio, Felici and Villot of their positions and re-assigns them.\u00a0 The next morning, he is discovered dead.<\/p>\n

At this stage, Benelli returns to Rome, determined to uncover the truth behind the Pope’s death.\u00a0 He is convinced of foul play and demands an autopsy.\u00a0 He begins interrogating the cardinals one by one and transforms into Giovanni Benelli: Vatican Detective.\u00a0 The QPAC theatre and I were thrilled and mesmerized watching Suchet clad in religious garments, working his best Hercule Poirot routine and busting people’s alibis.<\/p>\n

To be honest, before I saw The Last Confession<\/em> I knew nothing about John Paul I’s reign and it was Suchet’s name on the marquee that drew me in.\u00a0 However, once the story unfolded I began absorbed by this morality tale that blends fact with fiction, humour with melodrama and political brinksmanship with spiritual reflection and introspective soul searching.\u00a0 Roger Crane’ script is a wonderful, layered parable that asks questions that are theological, sociological and moral.\u00a0 What does it take to become elected Pope?\u00a0 Can a man really hold the qualities desired of the supreme pontiff when you must navigate the political minefield that is the conclave?\u00a0 Do you ask questions and seek the truth or have unquestioning faith in your God?<\/p>\n

The Last Confession<\/em> may sound like heavy subject matter for a Wednesday night out but there is plenty of witty and sardonic humour to lighten the proceedings.\u00a0 I found the sarcastic tone of the comedy reminded me of Stanley Kubrick’s classic film Dr Strangelove<\/em>, especially when I heard lines such as “the election of a pope is no place to discuss theology” and “religious has no place entering politics”.\u00a0 I believe both lines were uttered by the sensationally corrupt scoundrel Cardinal Baggio.<\/p>\n

I found The Last Confession<\/em> to be a highly entertaining, thought provoking and challenging stage show.\u00a0 Its anchored by a wonderful performance from David Suchet who is every bit the captivating presence that I hoped he would be.\u00a0 His mannerisms and delivery commanded the audience’s attention and age has not diminished his talents one bit.\u00a0 The show has now been performed in the UK, America, Canada and Australia to critical adulation and raving audience reviews.\u00a0 If you get a chance to see this show, take it.\u00a0 You’ll see in Suchet, a legend of both the stage and screen, working in his prime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Suchet investigates the murder of the Pope. Boom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2073,267,819,2074,2072],"class_list":["post-16256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-david-suchet","tag-hercule-poirot","tag-qpac","tag-the-last-confession","tag-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16256"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16265,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16256\/revisions\/16265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}