''Once a Catholic'' is a play by Mary O'Malley. ''Once a Catholic'' is a comedy first performed at The Royal Court Theatre in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1977, directed by

Mike Ockrent Michael Robert Ockrent (18 June 1946 – 2 December 1999) was a British stage director, well-known both for his Broadway musicals and smaller niche plays. He was educated at Highgate School. Through directing ''Educating Rita'', '' The Nerd'' an ...

. It concerns a retrospective view of the values of 1950s

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

convent school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

s and the female adolescent response to those values. The play won awards from the

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

and Plays & Players

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

. Mary O'Malley went on to be the Royal Court's resident

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

for 1977. The production transferred to

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

in the West End where it ran for over two years. In 2009, it was revived by the LOST Theatre Company, Upstairs at the Gatehouse,

."The Stage" review 2009.
/ref>

Work

"Once a Catholic: a comedy"
Samuel French, Inc., 1978,

References

External links

*
"The Stage Review", ''BBC'', Paul Gubbins, 2003"The Royal Court, History - 60s and 70s""About The Play - The Royal Court Theatre. Look Back. 50 Years. 50 Writers. 50 Readings. 1977 Once A Catholic by Mary O'Malley"
English plays 1977 plays {{1970s-play-stub