See JPII's The Jeweler's Shop

[Bernardo]

Theophany Catholic Theatre Company will be presenting John Paul II's The Jeweler's Shop at Immaculata University on Friday, October 13, and at La Salle University on Saturday, October 14. The play is a meditation on the Sacrament of Matrimony written by Karol Wojtyla before he became pope. Admission is free.

For those of you living around the Philadelphia area, this will be a great opportunity to come out in support of the Catholic arts and get to know the more artistic side of our late Holy Father. I will definitely try to be there as I've been hoping for a chance to see this play for some time.

If you want to learn more about Theophany, you can send them an e-mail at [e-mail]

[pierregambotsky]

That sounds great! I wish I could go!

[syme]

Has anyone here ever actually seen this play? Or at least read it? Is it good?

[syme]

I mean, I imagine it is, given that the pope wrote it, but I'm just wandering if anyone who's read it could tell us a little bit about it.

[Rieping]

Greetings in Christ,

I haven't seen the play, but I have repeatedly watched the movie produced by Canadian television around the 1980s sometime. The cast of the movie actually included Charleton Heston as the jeweler, as well as the young (at-the time) Canadian actor who later played the character "Gilbert Blythe" in the "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea" movies.

I first saw the movie on video when I was in college I believe, and I loved it. The movie was a little clumsy in parts, but overall it was intensely philosophical, theological, and psychological. It touched me powerfully at the time, and even my memories of the movie are strong.

When I studied philosophy at a Catholic seminary I volunteered to rent the movie version of "The Jeweller's Shop" for our weekly Friday movie night, and to encourage attendance I made sure that the other seminarians knew that it was written by Pope John Paul II, which in a way was misleading to say. The pope wrote the original play in Polish as a young man long before he studied in the seminary or became pope, and the movie was itself just a television adaptation of an English translation of the script. Anyway, to my surprise and dismay, the seminarians didn't like the movie. A few walked out because the clumsiness of the human portrayals disgusted them, but most were just simply bored and none of them enjoyed it. They couldn't get into it and didn't find any deep wonder in it like I had.

I still have fond memories of the movie, but I admit that I haven't watched it again after such an overwhelming rejection by pretty much all of the seminarians who saw it that Friday night. That remains a painful memory actually. I guess the flaws of the movie were admittedly real, but I hadn't even noticed them until that night and they were superficial flaws in my opinion. The heart of the play is gold, I still believe. I would heartily recommend watching the play (I wish I could someday) or at least viewing the movie, which can probably be borrowed through inter-library loan at your local library (or purchased, if you wish, through Ignatius Press). However if you're a major film critic and not much of a philosopher... then don't bother.

May God bless everyone always.

Your servant in Christ,
John

[syme]

Ouch! Those sound like pretty harsh comments! I hope they were caused by the execution of the movie rather than the quality of the written play. I haven't read it or seen it though, so I really can't say.

Given that it's a play, though, I would hope it is good even if one is not much of a philosopher. It's a play, after all, not a treatise.

[katycarl]

I think the difficulties run into in production of "The Jeweler's Shop" are probably caused not by the philosophical language and the character of the text itself, but how that language and character clash with the desire for polished, spectacular, conclusive and self-contained drama. We expect something very, very different today from theatre and film than did the theatrical companies Karol Wojytla participated in. This "Theatre of the Word" was much simpler, both from necessity (they performed underground, against the command of Nazi authorities, and couldn't afford much in the way of costume or scenery) and from a preference for presenting material in a way more narrative and meditative than dramatic.

Consequently, room exists and is created in the text for pause, reflection, remembrance, speculation. It reads more like a novel than a play in that way: while every line doesn't necessarily drive the action forward, every line expands, reveals, illustrates, illuminates. It's full in a way that could certainly be interpreted as calling for a slower pace and, consequently, more open to the typically American complaint: "It didn't grab and hold my attention right away." (As if attention were something to be seized and run away with by violence, not paid or given: as if it were primarily a passion, not an act of will.)

Anyway, I've read The Jeweler's Shop many times, read portions of it aloud (I don't presume to say I performed it) for a cultural event at my college, and am currently attempting a screen adaptation of the play for my own amusement and meditation. The deeper I get into this project, the more I'm convinced that the play itself is not really suited for any kind of performance than the kind it was originally written for: utterly text-dependent, on a bare stage, with costume and action rather suggested than adhered to with strict realism. This isn't a flaw of the play, just evidence that it was created with very different ends in view than adaptability to the current Western model of theatre or film. And that's perfectly okay, considering what is gained by the trade-off.

[Bernardo]

That is very interesting Katy. I haven't had the chance to see or read the play yet, but I will report back after I've seen it performed to let you know what my impression of Theophany's interpretation. I don't expect it will diverge much from the "Theatre of the Word" style, given that I can hardly imagine a small Catholic theatre company having much of a budget. In this case, that is probably a good thing!

[katie]

I was just reading a comentary on the play from the Theophany Catholic Theatre Company, and apparently it was written while Karol Wojtyla was bishop of Krakow. So yes, it was still 19 years before he became pope, but it wasn't in his pre-priest days either.

[ann]

Hi - I'm a member of Theophany Catholic Theatre Company. I would like to encourage everyone from around Philly, NJ, DE and MD to come and see us perform October 13 and 14. We are all graduates of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute in DC, and we started our group during our first semester. All of us work for the Church, and we come together whenever we're invited somewhere. Last year we performed in Cologne during World Youth Day, and our most recent performance was February in Phoenix. As for a budget, we really don't have one. We rely on sponsorships and free-will offerings. This is an apostolate for us, and our desire is to evangelize the best we can through this medium. Our interpretation is absolutely true to Wojtyla's vision, and we have not adapted the script at all - we do the play as he wrote it. For those who can't come to see us, please pray for us, and for those who do come - that the Holy Spirit will speak to them through our performances.
One more thing - get a copy of Jeweler (easily found on Amazon, or through Ignatius Press). It's really a beautiful play
God bless!

[katycarl]

I totally wish I could come -- it sounds fantastic. I will keep y'all in my prayers.