Once a Catholic
Section 1
1. Once a catholic is a comedy written by Mary O’Malley. It was written in 1977 and first presented at the Royal Court Theatre in London. It was set in the 1950’s in and around the area of London, and more specifically in a school called the Convent of Our Lady Fatima, which was a catholic school for girls, run by nuns. It is set in a time when Catholic convent education was very strict, and nothing risqué or rebellious was allowed to happen. The girls all had to live very pure lives in the way of Catholics, but some of them couldn’t help themselves. The sheltered existence of girls at the time in the strict convent schools leaves girls unprepared to deal with the discoveries of men and lust. The nun’s main aim is to beat all the sins out of them before they discover what a sin is.
2. The playwrights name is Mary O’Malley. She is a female born in a small town in England. In her very early years she was a ballet dancer and piano player. After that, she studied drama, improvisation and playmaking, she also joined a writer workshop. Some of her other works include
1972, Superscum
1974, A Nevolent Society
1975, Oh If Ever A Man Suffered
1978, Look Out…Here Comes Trouble
1986, Talk Of The Devil
1996, Oy Vay Maria
3. The main themes explored in this play is love, lust, exploring new things, religion, and rebellion. Love is explored mainly between the characters of Derek and Mary McGinty, although Mary Mooney does get in the way for a little bit, Derek and Mary McGinty are the main lovebirds in the play. Lust is also displayed in this relationship as well. All the girls in the play are always trying new things at times in the play, especially when my character, Mary Mooney, does something very far from her normal plain self when she hangs out with Derek and does some inappropriate things. All of the girls are learning about maturing and what girls can do