Rose Maher is bringing her production, The Cardinal Rules, to the MerrigongX stage to explore the impact of the Catholic Church upon self-development, community and identity. Born out of COVID-19 lockdown, the play draws on Rose’s experiences of growing up in a religious environment – in her case, Catholicism. 

The play takes place through the eyes of a child, a dedicated eleven-year-old parishioner in suburban Canberra. She questions, queries, and quite innocently mocks the church’s theatrical rituals with her child’s play, and in turn explores ideas around identity, authority and the influence of religion upon development and growth. 

The audience is encouraged to self-reflect throughout the play to look at how their own lives have been impacted by authority, particularly at an institutional level – a conversation that’s not readily had within our community.

Conversations are sparked around what role institutions play in crafting ‘rites of passage’ that individuals go through as they mature. Rose speaks to her experience of this, particularly in making her confirmation around the age of 12. 

“I remember thinking at the time, this feels like a really big deal, and I don’t feel big enough to make this like a reaffirmation essentially of your baptism,” Rose says.

“I suppose as the adult now, but also as the child at the time, I was aware that I was being asked to make a commitment to something that I didn’t really understand, wasn’t really allowed to question it, but I was being dictated to the terms of which I would fulfil the ritual.”

Rose also explores the connection and community that exists in the Catholic Church. Returning to the perspective of the child, audiences are encouraged to look at where they find this connection and influence currently. 

“Now, as an adult, I can see that it didn’t necessarily set me up to kind of have a critical framework to understand how I participate in society. And so now I’m like, well, where do I get that framework from and, or, how do I throw off that framework and find another one?”

Growing up in a Catholic family, Rose experienced first-hand the community that comes with being religious, and its influence across her family, spiritual and social life. 

“There are so many stories about my childhood, and so many that are linked to the people that we knew in the parish. My dad played the music, and my mum was involved in getting the youth to be a part of it.”

Even in their imagination, Rose and her family still found grounding in the church. “As a little girl with my siblings, me and my little sister used to play all sorts of things at home. Church was one of those things,” says Rose. 

It was only later that Rose began to question what her faith really meant to her. Born and raised in Canberra, Rose undertook a Bachelor of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. In the past few years, while in France doing theatre and clown training, she had the opportunity to explore some of these ideas and found the theatre a safe place to confront some heavy concepts. 

“We were asked to look at the ‘bastard’ in our community that we would like to potentially take down. George Pell was being jailed the week that we were doing that exercise. That’s kind of where it was born,” says Rose.

“I got incredible feedback from that [experience], in that I was allowed to keep playing because the audience was with me and there were laughs and engagement. It was the first time that I’d really kind of hit on something [topical and complex] – it needed writing and it needed extension.”

Rose uses the performance and drama of the church to explore some large, and sometimes overwhelming, ideas. Combining the drama of the theatre with the “production” of church, The Cardinal Rules creates an atmosphere of comedy to delve into some complicated concepts.

“Church itself is so theatrical and I think there’s something really glorious about that,” says Rose. 

The Cardinal Rules 

Merrigong Theatre Company

31 October to 2 November

The work is part of MerrigongX which aims to provide a platform for artists to explore new concepts, from in-house developmental works to public launches. 

The show is ‘pay what you feel’ – reserve your seat at merrigong.com.au