Ridley Aflame, the ashes settle to indifferentism, neglect and amnesia. Yet, "Ridley Aflame."
DOIDGE, Fleur. "Heat on for martyr's tale." Sunday Star-Times, August 16, 1998., F5, Newspaper Source Plus, EBSCOhost (accessed November 7, 2010).
"I trust this day we shall light a candle as will never be put out." Those were Hugh Latimer's words to Nicholas Ridley in October 1555 as they stood tied at the stake waiting to be burned.
Latimer and Ridley became two of the most famous British Protestant martyrs. Their passion burned so brightly that they refused to renounce their Protestant beliefs.
It is a testament to the power of words that the passion of Latimer and Ridley lives on in the former Anglican settlement of Christchurch, New Zealand. Only this time it is lesser-known Nicholas Ridley who comes to the fore, in local playwright Jeremy Roake's Ridley on Fire. The play was first performed to a packed cathedral one November night in 1997. A revamped version is staged this week.
No ordinary religious play, Ridley on Fire is aimed at modern sensibilities. It is a multi-media production which mixes plainsong and bagpipes with Joan Armatrading, neo-Gothic architecture with projected visuals of zebras and hyenas, and Christianity with karmic law. It is part of Roake's take on history that spirituality is not to be observed from a distance.
Roake's Ridley is a particularly personal interpretation. "He's coming back (from death) and he's not polite or well-rounded. He's pissed off, he's indignant, and he's saying `get into survival mode, everybody'.
"Ridley says, `if you want to build a fire, make sure it's a proper fire." Ridley suffered horrifically at the stake. The fire burned so slowly he remained conscious even after his legs were completely burnt off.
David McPhail, dressed in a burnt cassock, will once again play Ridley. "He's best in his serious roles, I think," says Roake. "He carries the whole thing. He's got such energy."
* Ridley On Fire, Christchurch Cathedral, Aug 21, 23
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