Raymond Burke's CARDINAL SINNE Comes to Glasgay! Festival, Oct 22-Nov 1

An unsettling and unmissable new Glasgay! commission for the 2014 festival, Cardinal Sinne exposes all in a genre-defying production exploring the difficult issue of hypocrisy within the religious establishment as these ancient institutions struggle to come to terms with sexual modernity. CARDINAL SINNE by Raymond Burke and directed by Grant Smeaton will play Wednesday 22 October - Saturday 1 November 2014. All performances at 7:45PM.

With only a couple of hours to go before his flight to Rome to elect a new Pope, Cardinal Sinne- outspoken homophobe and recently elected bigot of the year- finds his chambers overrun by a variety of colourful characters intent on exposing the truth about his own sexual inappropriateness and hypocrisy. Presented in a mix of traditional comic farce, serious soliloquy and ludicrous litany, the play will investigate the root and responsibility of institutions and their leaders in their perpetuation of sexual inequality and bias.

This new show, created as part of Glasgay 2014, lays bare the difficult questions that need to be asked about why such people are attracted to such institutions in the first place and how they deal with their own moral conundrum internally. Is there indeed a crisis of faith within the heart of the individual? Or is it merely selfish lust seeking protection under the cloak of power?

Cardinal Sinne is not a biographical account of any particular individual-although some of the incidents referred to in the piece will be taken from press statements and speeches of powerful clergymen over recent months. Nor is it an attack on faith; the play aims to be more of a philosophical and psychological discussion of how institutions and those in positions of power can come to terms with their own self-perpetuating duplicity.

An unsettling and unmissable night, Cardinal Sinne will undergo several jarring genre-shifts taking the audience on an uncomfortable journey from traditional farcical comedy through congregational participation to the darkest depths of personal guilt, self-loathing and tragedy, mirroring the seismic lurches of conscience, belief and desire of the show's disquieting protagonist.

BIOGRAPHIES

RAYMOND BURKE, AUTHOR

Raymond Burke BA (Hons) 1st class (English Studies and Scottish Literature) University of Stirling, PGDE (English teaching) Strathclyde University

From his beginnings as a busker in Glasgow, Raymond started a career in theatre as one of the original team who opened the Arches Theatre in Glasgow in 1991. He is regularly commissioned to produce educational plays for Hopscotch Theatre Company. He has now written more than thirty educational plays.

Other works include RoadRage, a dark criticism of modernity, Diary of a Madman, an adaptation of the Gogol novel and the Ortonesque comedy Spurt!, set in a sperm bank which discussed the morality of genetic engineering and sexuality. He is currently working on the next draft of the biographical, Whatever Happened to Benny Hill? which was first produced in 2011 by Grant Smeaton.

Raymond is a regular contributor to 'The Drouth' magazine. He has three books published by Dualchas - 'The Return of Burke and Hare', 'Spoutmouth' and 'Spurt'. He also provides creative writing classes around Glasgow.

GRANT SMEATON, DIRECTOR

Award winning actor and theatremaker Grant Smeaton was born and lives in Glasgow. He studied maths at Strathclyde University and trained in drama at Glasgow Arts Centre. He is the founder and has been artistic director of both Hopscotch Theatre Company and Tangerine Productions, directing more than 50 shows for the two companies including Abigail's Party, Spurt! and Torch Song Trilogy.

An early association with the Arches Theatre, Glasgow, saw him perform in productions such as Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Waiting for Godot, The Devils, Inferno and Spend a Penny.

Recent performance work includes Bette/Cavett at the Edinburgh Festival 2010, Valhalla and Bliss+Mud for the Tron, Monaciello for Tron/Naples Theatre Festival and Elysian Fields at the Arches. He has also appeared in productions for, amongst others, Suspect Culture & NTS, 7:84, XFactor Dance, Oran Mor & The Tron. He has worked regularly with Glasgow's Glasgay! festival, co-producing work since 2005.

His TV credits include Scotch & Wry, Taggart, The Ferguson Theory, Rab C Nesbitt and he makes regular appearances on the cult Hogmanay BBC football show Only an Excuse.

Grant won a Herald Angel Award for his production of Bette/Cavett in 2010. CARDINAL SINNE by Raymond Burke GLASGAY! 2014produced by Glasgay! t/a GALA Scotland Ltd. Page 4 of 4

CAST

Pauline Goldsmith Mrs McCandlish

Linda Jane Devlin (Linda Cuthbert) Detective Inspector Scudder

Grant Smeaton Cardinal Sinne

Callum Cuthbertson Monsignor Papaleo

James McCreight Simon

Neil B Anderson Frank Devine

PRODUCTION TEAM

Neil B Anderson Production Manager / & cast - Frank Devine

John Beggan Stage Manager

Simon Hayes Lighting Designer

Veronica Rennie Set & Costume Designer

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