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GERARD ASCENDING
by David Hovatter & John Dobson

The Questors, Upper Foyer
November 1997

Directed by David Hovatter


Cast:
John Dobson, David Hovatter


Two gentlemen in their underwear, a bath tub, a mysterious doll, an alpine journey - and Gerard Manley Hopkins. What do they have in common? The answer is revealed in a new play written and performed by David Hovatter and John Dobson. It takes the form of a nocturnal journey in which the two actors explore conflicts between the Jesuit Poet's introverted sexual drive and his rigorously self-imposed religious discipline. Drawing on material from Hopkins' journals, poems and religious writings, it's a bumpy ride, with plenty of surprises, sex, violence and a certain amount of rock-climbing.

"His first flogging - six cuts that sounded like the splashing of so many buckets of water."