Word: clitherow
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Gallantry of Course. Saints have traveled a gruesome gamut of agonizing deaths. Blessed Margaret Clitherow, a jolly, capable British housewife who had hid many an underground cleric in her secret "priests' chamber," chose not to plead innocent or guilty at her trial in 1586 so as not to involve her children or Anglican husband-though she knew the penalty for such a stand was being pressed to death. "She was about a quarter of an hour in dying," flat on the ground with a sharp stone under her back and a door on her body with "weights placed upon...
...Stained Glass Window" deals with the effects of this pressure on the convictions of several people in the ten years covered by the play's action. Robin Flemming, a tradesman of York, forswears Catholicism and eventually becomes Earl of Hartford a favorite of Elizabeth. His partner, John Clitherow, a prosperous Anglican merchant, wished to leave others alone and to he left alone, but this turns out to be impossible...
Margaret, Clitherow's steadfastly, Catholic wife, engages in a good many church activities deemed treasonable by the Queen. Eventually Margaret's former suitor, now Earl, of Hartford, causes her to be condemned to death when she refuses to give up her beliefs...
...first act, it picks up a good deal of speed and dramatic power. The same is true of the acting. Ralph Clanton is convincing, often frighteningly so, as the Earl, a man of almost demoniac evil. Martha Scott and Charlton Heston give rounded, creditable performances as Margaret and John Clitherow. Miss Scott's portrayal of the heroine is not inspiring, but she does an extremely competent job in a part that calls for straightforward acting...
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