Inside the Actor's Chapel?

Some leading Italian theatre-types have found a new patron for their craft.... Guess who:

Most biographers agree that the late pontiff's own experience as a poet, playwright and actor helped Karol Wojtyla become, during his time as leader of the Catholic Church, one of the best communicators in the world.

Although this side took a back seat in the latter part of his life, Wojtyla was once a prolific writer of poetry and drama for the theatre. The young Karol turned to theatre as an outlet for his talents. In the early 1930's, he began acting in plays at school and also became involved in the Amateur University Theatre in Wadowice.

He learnt a style of performing in which language, and especially monologues, were thrown into sharper relief by simple, bare sets. In 1941 Wojtyla and his friends started the underground Rhapsodic Theatre, which focused on works in their own language. It was a dangerous move because, at the time, only Germans were allowed to go to the theatre.

It would sure be notable....

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