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The Rock (1934)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2010

Jewel Spears Brooker
Affiliation:
Eckerd College, Florida
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Summary

*Derek Verschoyle.

"The Theatre."

Spectator 152,

no. 5527 (1 June 1934),

851.

The production of Mr. Eliot's pageant play is organized by the Diocese of London, in aid of the Forty-Five Churches Fund, the president of which is the Lord Bishop of London. Apart, therefore, from its place as a contribution to English dramatic literature, The Rock is to be considered as an official apologia for the campaign of church-building which the fund was started to finance. In both respects it is an extremely interesting work, and in both it is at least partially a failure.

The direct action of the play turns upon the efforts of a group of bricklayers engaged in building a church, and the difficulties (from bad foundations, lack of money, agitators, hostile criticism) against which they have to struggle: their difficulties symbolize as well the general attitude to religion of the secular world. The process of construction is shown in every stage. In the first scene the workmen appear starting on the foundations; later the church is seen half builts; finally, it is shown completed and ready for dedication. The Church's requirements of today are illustrated by a complementary series of pageant scenes, presenting episodes in the history of the Church, for the most part the Church in London: the conversion of King Sabert by Mellitus, Rahere's building of St. Bartholomew's, the dedication of Westminster Abbey, outbursts of Puritan iconoclasm. The episodes are linked together by a chorus, which comments both upon the action of the play and upon the present problems of the Church.

Type
Chapter
Information
T. S. Eliot
The Contemporary Reviews
, pp. 297 - 316
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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  • The Rock (1934)
  • Edited by Jewel Spears Brooker, Eckerd College, Florida
  • Book: T. S. Eliot
  • Online publication: 10 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511485466.016
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  • The Rock (1934)
  • Edited by Jewel Spears Brooker, Eckerd College, Florida
  • Book: T. S. Eliot
  • Online publication: 10 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511485466.016
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Rock (1934)
  • Edited by Jewel Spears Brooker, Eckerd College, Florida
  • Book: T. S. Eliot
  • Online publication: 10 March 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511485466.016
Available formats
×