We concentrated today on one of the key reforming moments of the play – the expulsion of the prelates from the Parliament. In the morning we examined the scene when the prelates are stripped and leave the Parliament humiliated. In the afternoon we went back to the earlier moment when the clergy are asked by Divine Correction and the Scribe to account for their behaviour as officeholders and are then confronted by the Doctor’s sermon. Although when I read the play I had simply seen the prelates as collective in rehearsal what became clear was how different Lyndsay makes them. Spirituality, Tom McGovern, is very clearly the leader. He is the one who raises the legitimate question concerning Parliament’s and the King’s right to reform the clergy. But he also seems entirely unaware that his behaviour as a Bishop is unacceptable. Peter Kenny and Michael Daviot, Abbott and Parson, share Spirituality’s sense of wronged innocent. The Parson’s response to the Doctor’s sermon, as rehearsed by Michael, came over as a perfect piece of Lyndsay comic satire. When the Doctor condemns sins like Pride and Lechery the Parson argues that they can’t be sins since if they were, ‘We men of Kirk wald never use them.’

Finally yesterday we got the first look at Divine Corrections costume, and in particular, his wings. They were magnificent; however, if we have a really windy day we might see Tam Dean Burn soaring off over the walls of Linlithgow Palace.