Vincent Sherlock
He had to go for counselling! In a wonderful one man play by Gerry Farrell, his character Colin O’Rourke, was advised to seek counselling and he shares the journey with us. In the play Colin has recently retired from a lifetime of teaching and the enjoyment of the freedom retirement offers begins to wane, and he slips into something approaching depression. Gerry brings us on a wonderful journey in response to the therapist’s guidance that ‘Colin O’Rourke’ should find for himself seven pieces of wisdom to share with the next generation.
I saw the play last week. I am in awe of Gerry’s ability to take us on a journey that brings us through laughter and tears, to a place of appreciation, in which we know we have something to share. This something is rooted in what has been shared with us, what we observe and live, maybe without fully understanding what is being lived and observed. The drama is, in many ways a full-length mirror that leads us to a place where we realise we too have a story to share.
In laughing at himself he hears the laughter of the audience and in the very real tears he allows to flow, he gives the audience the freedom to cry”
The one-man play, self-penned and presented is embedded in the gifts of the Holy Spirit – not least, wisdom and courage. In it too, we find right judgment and wonder and awe, as the writer/performer decides what to take to the stage and what to leave behind. In listening to himself, he hears what others might hear. In laughing at himself he hears the laughter of the audience and in the very real tears he allows to flow, he gives the audience the freedom to cry. It is at once a lonely place to be and yet a wonderful pulpit from which flows life-giving words of comfort, consolation, challenge and peace. Words are a gift from somewhere deeper. They come from the boy on the Scór na nÓg Stage, the father who knew better than people thought he knew, the secret to a successful interview, the husband, father, grandfather and teacher all caught up in the person of Colin O’Rourke. The words come from life and life has its words for each and every one of us. We are our own one-man play.
Willing
As I watched Gerry on stage, I saw a man willing to be vulnerable as he put before the audience – the congregation – what he felt he had to offer, more than that, all he had to offer. I attended the play on Friday evening of last week, still laughed about some of it on Saturday and tried to capture some of the wisdom shared as I prepared for Mass on Saturday evening and Sunday.
Standing at the tomb of St Peter…
Sunday – just before going out to morning Mass, I turned on the television and saw Pope Leo XIV standing at the tomb of St Peter. The camera focused on him, closed in on his face and I was back again in ‘The Dock’ in Carrick-on-Shannon, watching a man preparing to give his all in the most live performance of all – life. I felt for him as he looked at the tomb of St Peter, in whose shoes he was about to walk the aisle of St Peter’s surrounded by liturgically attuned and vested attendants. Still, Leo walked alone in the Fisherman’s shoes.
I wonder did he see himself again, in his childhood home, dressed in make-believe vestments and standing at his mother’s ironing board as he ‘celebrated’ Mass for his brothers? Did he hear the neighbour say to the young boy, Bob, “One day you will be Pope” or did he hear again the echoing of his name in those closing moments of the recent Conclave and hear the question: “Do you accept?” – whatever questions he had, he found the answer “I accept” and walked towards the dawn of a new day – the spotlight, God’s light.
Where are we in it all? In a place maybe where we can face the audience – God, our family, friends, workmates, parish, students, patients – and let ourselves be seen in the telling of God’s story – our story, that they may tell theirs.