Guest Post: Kim Quiddington Attends, ‘TWO POPES’ Starring Anton Lesser (Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright)

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Hello everyone and welcome to a new post. Today’s post is written by Kim Quiddington and is about her experience attending the new play The Two Popes starring Anton Lesser. The photos are the copyright of the photographer. Thank you Kim for writing this guest post. The post below is the words of both Kim and from the theatre program.

 

The Two Popes – starring Anton Lesser; Nicholas Woodesoon, Lynsey Beauchamp; Leaphia Darko; Malcolm James and Angela Jones. Anton plays Pope Benedict XVI and Nicholas Woodeson plays Cardinal Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis) – my review – When we went into the theatre Royal Bath we were greeted with the smell of incense and when Play started there was plumes of white smoke going into the theatre from the stage which heralded the announcement of the new Pope.

The first act takes part in a apartment in the Vatican and focuses on the Pope taking to Sister Brigitta about the food she’s prepared; a tv show they were following and his love of classical music, he plays the piano (we’re not sure if it was Anton playing) he talks about the fact he had had a girlfriend in his past! He then admits to the Sister that he’s thinking of resigning-she reacts with shock and says he can’t resign -no one has resigned from the role of Pope as it’s a job for life! We see them watch tv and express joy that the featured animal of the show was ok! There’s even a joke about the background weather which is rain and the interference it has caused with the TV show and the Pope says it’s like receiving God in the form of a thunderstorm.

 

 

Anton really draws you in with this interchange with Sister Brigitta and even corrects her by saying that the last Pope to resign was over 700 years ago! The first act ends with the Pope requesting the presence of Cardinal Bergoglio to the Vatican. 2nd Act takes part in a slum in Argentina.

In the second act we see Cardinal Berhoglio ministering to the poor, he has a lively Conversation with Sister Sophia; he asks why she decided to become a sister in the order, she replies that at the age of 12 she lost both her parents and got her calling from God. Cardinal Bergoglio then admits he had written to the Pope twice has he wanted to resign as a cardinal.

 

We see the shock of Sisters Sophia when he says this to her; she is shocked; she asks him to hear her confession he then asks what she wants to confess to him; she Confesses to him that she does not want him to resign! We then see Cardinal Bergoglio at the Capella Sistina. This is where the Popes meet each other. Much is made of their differences. The Pope likes classical music and TV shows with animals in them the cardinal likes tango dancing and football! The Cardinal mentions to the Pope that he wrote to him twice offering my resignation you have not replied. The Pope admits to the cardinal that he wants to resign as the Pope. The Cardinal is shocked and says that the job is for life and you are Gods servant for life.

The conversation continues with the Cardinal stating his reasons as to why he wants to resign. The pope stands by with his back to the audience and he’s just listening. The Pope then speaks to the Cardinal and says we’ve reached an impasse we both want to resign from a different positions! The action moves to the Popes apartment – we see the Pope playing the piano and the cardinal wanting to watch football on the TV.

 

We see the cardinal aiming the remote at the TV and the pope taking control of the remote and flicking channels over; we see the Cardinals face light up with excitement when the football match is featured; the pope rapidly moves the channel on and we see the Cardinals disappointment. The Pope Admits he is tired.

 

The Pope admits he didn’t like the Cardinal which is why he didn’t accept his resignation however he although he didn’t like him he was moved by his honest speaking to the congregation that the Cardinal administers too. The Pope asked the Cardinal to hear is confession; the cardinal is surprised but he agrees we see the pope fall to his knees and confesses his sins and cries about his Involvement with the Hitler youth in his younger days.

We then see the Pope whisper something in the Cardinals ear.
The Cardinal administers a blessing to the Pope. We see the revelation by the Cardinal that he is the man for the job of the Pope.

The final scene is when we see the white smoke billowing into the theatre with the announcement of the new Pope.

We see the new Pope greeting the congregation at the Vatican.

The new Pope deems that he does not want to sleep in the popes apartment he wants to sleep in his apartment and he asks what food is available for the people.

He’s told that ice cream is only available he is quite happy with that and says we could do with all the ice cream we can get! His reign as we know is completely different to the previous Pope who he took over from. we do see him greeting the invisible crowds at the vatican and we see the Ex Pope walk on the stage behind him. The play ends here.
I will give my opinion of Anton and Nicholas in a separate post in the moment.

 

Kim Quiddington
Anton gave a very measured performance, his interaction with each member of the cast is superb with the chemistry he brings to the role, he draws you in and takes you on an emotional journey about missed opportunities and the scene with Sister Brigitta is very touching. His timing was superb and even the injection of comedy was exceptional. The portrayal of Pope Benedict XVI by Nicholas Woodeson was gentle and down to earth, The exchanges between Lesser and Woodeson are exceptional and they play off of each other very well. They both manage to capture the accents of their respective characters (German and Argentinian) whilst never being overpowering. The cast assembled are a real asset to the play, with Leaphia Darko as Sister Sophia – although only being in one scene – stealing the scene she is in, and has excellent rapport with Nicholas Woodeson.

And finally/ -my meeting Anton at the stage door. He came out of the stage door and I praised his performance telling him I really enjoyed the play and he was exceptional in the Role, he was genuinely pleased and very modest at the same time and thanked me for my kind words. I asked for his autograph which he was glad to provide on the theatre program.

I said to him can I ask you a question. He said yes and I said have you heard of Facebook? He said he had not. I said there is a Facebook group dedicated to Morse Lewis and endeavour.
He seemed presently surprised with this and smiled and I asked if he would mind if Andy took a photo of him and me he replied yes and Andy took the photo and Anton put his arm behind my back and was very friendly.

I was literally starstruck – He’s such a genuinely nice person and seemed very humble to me.

Having got his autograph we left him looking at his phone and texting people.

 

A big thank you for Kim for this post.

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BEFORE SCROLLING TO THE POST.

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING MY WEBSITE WITH A DONATION OR BECOMING A PATRON (IT’S LIKE A MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION). More info below.

Thank you to all those who have made donations.

If you do not use Paypal you can donate via cheque. Please send a message through my website (there is a ‘contact me’ option at the top of the front page) and I will send you my address. Thank you.

I would like to say a huge thank you to those who have become Patrons of the site and also a huge thank you to those who have made donations. What do I mean by Patrons?

What is Patreon? Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid. It’s a membership platform that provides business tools for creators to run a subscription content service, with ways for artists to build relationships with their subscribers, or “patrons”.

With Patreon you set up how much you wish to pay monthly. There are three tiers, $5, $10 and $15. It’s like paying for a magazine subscription.

Please subscribe to to my website. Subscribing to this website can be done in two ways.

If you have a WordPress account then click the ‘following’ button. If you don’t have a WordPress account then enter your email and click the subscribe button. Entering the email only means subscribing to my website you will NOT be creating a WordPress account. (WordPress are the company that I pay to use their platform).

To help run my website I have set up a Paypal account for donations. Thank you to all those who have made donations.

If you do not use Paypal you can donate via cheque. Please send a message through my website (there is a ‘contact me’ option at the top of the front page) and I will send you my address. Thank you.

My Twitter, https://twitter.com/Jag248RPA?lang=en-gb

My Twitch Channel; https://www.twitch.tv/morselewisendeavour

My Youtube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjIIGCcVpSIFwtRlS8hKWDA?view_as=subscriber

I have started my own Facebook page. It is primarily an extension of this website. I decided to start the Facebook page as there has been times when I have an update to a review post or some interesting news or information but it was all to small to make into a full blown post here on my website. So, come and join and keep up-to-date with all that happens in the Morse universe.

My Facebook Page; https://www.facebook.com/groups/1084993125023468/

I would like to say a huge thank you to those who have become Patrons of the site and also a huge thank you to those who have made donations. What do I mean by Patrons?

What is Patreon? Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid. It’s a membership platform that provides business tools for creators to run a subscription content service, with ways for artists to build relationships with their subscribers, or “patrons”.

With Patreon you set up how much you wish to pay monthly. There are three tiers, $5, $10 and $15. It’s like paying for a magazine subscription.

Patreon primarily uses Paypal which is easy to join and a safe way to send money. https://www.paypal.com/uk/home

Here is my Patreon account where you can read more about it, https://www.patreon.com/morseandlewisandendeavour

Here is where to find me on Twitch; https://www.twitch.tv/morselewisendeavour