LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

July 18, 2019

By Arifa Akbar

The #MeToo movement has inspired a number of plays giving voice to the victims of sexual predation. Now comes drama tackling the inner lives of sex offenders themselves, the most prominent of these being Downstate, a Steppenwolf and National Theatre co-production, and David Mamet’s current West End play, Bitter Wheat.

Marietta Kirkbride’s Our Church is far quieter and more English than either of these. It is set in a fictional village that could be the backwaters of Ambridge. Three church committee members eat Hobnobs and discuss parish matters, from dwindling volunteers (“We need fresh blood”) to a diseased pear tree, a renegade cow and a game of croquet for villagers.

It is only when June (Kirsty Cox) nominates a churchgoer called Tom to be part of the group that their conversation becomes charged. Tom is a convicted sex offender…