Perth seminarians and parish youth brought the biblical account of three young men who refused to worship a king’s statue to the stage. Source: The Record.
More than 200 people from across the Archdiocese attended each performance of Daniel and the Three Young Men in the Blazing Furnace at Servite College, Perth, last month.
The live production brought together seminarians from Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Perth, and young people from the parishes of Mirrabooka, Osborne Park and Kelmscott.
“Do to me what you will, but I’ll not do what you want,” Azariah told King Nebuchadnezzar, rejecting his demand to worship the golden statue.
Seminarian Flavio Pichardo played Azariah alongside Micah McKenna as Hananiah and fellow seminarian Sebastian Loredo as Mishael.
Noah McKenna played Daniel, with seminarian Manuel Ruiz as Nebuchadnezzar.
Twenty-year-old Sara Cleary directed the play by Javier Castilla of Cordoba, Spain. After the performance, Ms Cleary thanked the cast and acknowledged their limited stage experience.
“Not a lot of them have ever been on stage ever before and I think that was an amazing performance from all of them,” she said.
The three-act drama followed the young men as they faced the consequences of refusing the king’s command. Their answer remained the same even if God did not rescue them: “And even if He doesn’t save us from the blazing furnace, the whole world will know that we don’t adore other gods, nor bow down to the king’s statue.”
Comic exchanges ran through the script, including Mishael’s attempts to escape the king’s demands by claiming hearing and sight difficulties.
An angel brought David, Joseph and Judith into the story as the condemned men awaited punishment. They recalled David’s encounter with Goliath, Joseph’s ordeal in an empty well and Judith’s confrontation with Holofernes.
In his program message, seminary rector Fr Chrispine Witika explained that funds raised from the play would help meet the seminarians’ needs and support their formation for priesthood and missionary service.
Fr Witika thanked those who had helped bring the play to life and acknowledged the benefactors whose generosity sustains the seminary.
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Seminarians and parish youth bring Daniel to the stage (By Jamie O’Brien, The Record)
