Harvey Brough - Thecla - An Oratorio

'Thecla' is a contemporary oratorio by British composer Harvey Brough with libretto by James Runcie, featuring soloists Clara Sanabras, Mark le Brocq in the roles of Thecla and St Paul. The story of Thecla, a modern heroine of the ancient world, as documented in the Apocrypha is about faith in both good and bad ways. Thecla's faith gives her the courage to upset the establishment and pursue what she thinks is the right spiritual path in the company of Paul. Most everybody else in the piece puts their faith in the way things have always been done: a patriarchal system, which Thecla defies. Their faith leads them to whip themselves up into a frenzy and sentence her to a cruel and shocking death, not once, but twice.