Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang

Described as “Carry On meets Hilary Mantel”, Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang sees two statues of monks reanimated to remember the political upheaval which ended their monastic lifestyle.

“It impressed me that something so monumental had gone,” says Burrows, who researched the priory as a possible location for a site- specific performance.

“It struck me that if Lewes Priory hadn’t been knocked down by Cromwell it would have been bigger than Chichester Cathedral.”

He realised it was “a bit of a tall order” to create a play based around a real historical location, and so created a fictional abbey for his monks Brother Adam and Brother Stephen.

To get a feel for the monastic life, he spent a week living as a 21st- century monk in Buckfast Abbey near Dartmoor.

“I went to seven or eight services a day, which started at 5.30am,” he remembers.

“It was great to be there and see what a monastic life amounts to – it’s one of the only monasteries where you can actually live with the monks and take part in their routine.

“It was remarkable to see monks in the 21st century doing the same stuff as their 16th-century predecessors.”

When King Henry VIII closed the monasteries and confiscated their fortunes as part of his break with the Catholic Church – owing to his wish to divorce Catherine of Aragon in favour of Anne Boleyn – he changed the lives of many monks.

“You couldn’t leave a monastery,” says Burrows. “They never went outside, unlike friars who used to travel around.

“The Reformation certainly ended their way of life. There was a drive across Europe, starting with Martin Luther. There was this idea you didn’t have to go to a manmade church to get to God, you didn’t need to spend your life praying, or paying money to get into Heaven.You got into Heaven through God’s grace – it was a revolutionary event.

“Henry VIII stayed Catholic – he married the woman he wanted by cutting off the Pope – and got all the money the Church had, which in fact had more than he did. It’s a great story.”

The Carry On aspect of the story comes from the plots the two monks make as Cromwell’s men start to loot monasteries around the country.

“We play 15 different characters,” says Burrows, who stars alongside former Flying Picket David Brett.

“It’s a bittersweet comedy – in the end it’s about loss and the relationship between the two monks, who have different ideas about who caused the dissolution of the monasteries.”

One running joke is their attempt to hide the abbey’s holy relic of a saint’s finger, which is kept in a jewel-encrusted box.

“They know when they are visited by Cromwell’s men it will be taken, so they go to great lengths to make sure the relic itself isn’t lost,” says Burrows – who adds the choice of replacement creates some of the bawdy Carry On-style comedy.

The atmosphere of monastic life on the largely bare stage is emphasised by the use of plainsong – taking advantage of Brett’s former pop career. He topped the charts in Christmas 1983 with the Flying Pickets’s a capella reading of Yazoo’s Only You.

“It’s hard enough to hold a tune, but when you’re singing in Latin and not quite sure what you’re singing it is tough,” says Burrows.

“It is beautiful stuff, and very satisfying when you get over the hump of it.”

Following this Brighton Fringe premiere, the show is set to go on tour before going north to Edinburgh, where it has been booked in for the full three-week run.

“Hilary Mantel has put the whole subject on the map again,” says Burrows.

“When we were trying to find a venue in Edinburgh one promoter got in touch saying he had just read the two Mantel books so was up to here with Cromwell and the Reformation. He told us he would love to have the show – it’s nice to have that response!”

• Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang is at the Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton, from Monday, May 20, to Sunday, May 26. Starts 8pm, tickets £10. Call 01273 917272