DR ROWAN WILLIAMS TALKS AT THE ACTORS’ CHURCH

Tragedy and comedy, especially to the acting fraternity are an integral and inescapable part of our  lives. Shakespeare wrote 16 plays  on each of these subjects each amounting to 32 plays.  On Wednesday May 27 Dr Rowan Williams talked on the subjects at The Actors’ Church – St Paul’s in Covent Garden which was founded in 1898.  The church has two pet cats – Inigo and Jones who wander round and greet visitors.

“What you don’t know will kill you” observed Dr Williams on tragedy – moments of deep failure which generate lasting catastrophic loss.  With comedy on the other hand – not knowing makes us absurd – a good comic resolution demonstrates how our ignorance can lead to humour.

Referring to Oedipus and Antigone, he ruminates on the fact that Oedipus doesn’t know that he has killed his father and married his mother whilst Antigone has obeyed the law of God and the city takes revenge on her.  There is also a modern version of this drama written in Paris in the 1940’s.  Going back to “not knowing” Dr Williams described this condition as something which could be “lethal”.  A favourite subject is the poem on King Robert of Sicily encompassing absurdity and comedy when a person’s dignity is challenged and the fact that we are ridiculous is not the end of the world.

Referring to plays likes King Lear and Macbeth, Dr Williams  remarked that King Lear is something of a “hybrid” whilst another Shakespeare play Othello – is unrelentlessly tragic, but Macbeth is his personal favourite, where “no-one learns anything”. He remarked that a very funny play is Twelfth Night.  Walter Davis writes books on tragedy which are illuminating.  In drama, we learn on alertness to what we don’t know – 1) Am I doomed? 2) Am I ridiculous.

We need drama to be examined as a theological exercise.  Do we live in a world that has gone beyond satire? Theologically, our humanity is about reflecting reality – we are made to be in God’s image. Animals are sometimes funny, sometimes sad but are they tragic or comic?

Much material to contemplate from a talk which lasted just under one hour and an interesting and thought provoking way to spend time in an enchanting historical building, it was a free event with wine supplied for the full complement of the audience afterwards.