Temple

by Steve Waters

On 15 October 2011 Occupy London makes camp outside St Paul's Cathedral. On 21 October 2011 a building that had kept open through floods, the Blitz and terrorist threats closes its doors. On 28 October City of London initiates legal action against Occupy to begin removing them from outside the Cathedral…

Steve Waters' play is a fictional account of these events, set in the heart of a very British crisis - a crisis of conscience, a crisis of authority and a crisis of faith.

Temple was premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in May 2015 in a production starring Simon Russell Beale, directed by Howard Davies.

'A triumph... [Goes] behind the head-lines, and closed ecclesiastical doors, to produce a riveting drama that unpicks the institutional and psychological turmoil the [Occupy London] saga caused' - Daily Telegraph

'Waters takes real figures and real events and transforms them into a fictional account that plays like High Noon… 90 minutes of barbed politesse that never lets up... rich and ambiguous and funny and fundamental... quietly stunning... a marvellous show' - The Times

Genres: Plays

75 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 13, 2015

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waters' plays are never less than interesting and thought-provoking, but this one is a bit static. It's definitely a play of 'ideas', but doesn't really go anyplace dramatically.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this alongside On Religion.

When I finished On Religion I said that parts of it had probably gone over my head. Reading Temple, I take part of that back and say that this play absolutely went over my head. To be honest, I didn't find the concept of the play that interesting, and the legal debates and jargon bored me.

However, I did find that I felt like I knew the characters a fair amount, particularly the PA, something which I consider (in my limited experience) quite difficult to establish in a play. The PA provided some lighter relief, much like the Dad in On Religion.

I would give this 2* based on the content and debates which it covered, but the characters brought it up to nearer 3*. Perhaps 2.75*

[Livinginthecastle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't pretend that I got all the ecclesiastical in jokes, but this was a very thought provoking and challenging play in a quiet way. What would you do?

[Steve Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting play and fun to read.