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The Prayer Book Society’s new CEO Diana Cheal reflects on her first experience of the Cranmer Commemoration.
It was my first time at the Commemoration, and I was struck by the historical significance of the day. The beautiful Mattins service to start at which the Bishop of Dorchester preached, followed by the procession from the Church, where he was tried, to the site on Broad Street, where he was burned, and then onwards to the Martyrs’ Memorial to lay the wreath and pay tribute to those other martyrs, including Bishops Latimer and Ridley. I was particularly moved by the cross made from the cobbles and bricks, I imagine to be the ones laid at the time, that marks the spot in Broad Street. Naturally, a group of robed clergy and a group of singing choristers, followed by a winding procession drew some interest, and I am sure we feature in many tourists’ photo albums.
To mark the 470th anniversary of his death, this year’s Cranmer Commemoration also featured the resurrection of Anne Ridler’s play, The Trial of Thomas Cranmer. This had been first released in 1956, but had not been seen since. Directed by Elisabeth Dutton, and with Jonathan Haynes as Cranmer, this all-powerful play was performed in the same church in which Cranmer’s trial had taken place.
To say I haven’t stopped thinking about the play is not an exaggeration. I thought it was evocative, moving, powerful, beautifully written, thought-provoking, important and fantastically directed and produced. Haynes played a masterful Cranmer. His self-belief and poise was there, only to falter having been imprisoned in the Tower for so long. He recanted believing that he would be saved, and on realising this was not the case, he changed his recantation in the Church – in the actual spot right in front of my pew (there is a mark in the pillar from where the original stage was carved and fitted into the pillar) – before being dragged out to the stake. Cranmer burned his right hand first, as this was the one that had signed his recantation.
Ridler’s play is fantastic, and I hope to be able to do something else with it, rather than putting it to bed for another 50 years. It was very special to have her children and their families in the audience too. As her daughter Kate pointed out in the brief Q&A at the start, they had been there for the original performance. Watch this space, as we will keep you posted.
Words don’t really do the day justice, but a day that will live with me forever.
A longer version of this article will appear in the Trinity edition of The Prayer Book Today magazine.
