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A lesson in
the actor’s art
The Man Jesus
Malvern Theatre Forum
**** SO
who is this Jesus bloke they are all taking about? That must have been a
common question among the Galileans around 2000 years ago. Was he a
terrorist, a political activist, a cult leader or even a religious
nutter? Matthew Hurt’s play tries to give us a picture of the man
through the thoughts and recollections of those who knew him, based upon
St Mark’s Gospel. Not that this is some dusty,
religious tract coming to pass, far from it; in the hands if Simon
Callow the Jesus phenomenon of ancient Galilee is brought to energetic
life. Sometimes it is a privilege to
sit back and watch a master of the actor’s art, and this is one of them
as Callow launches into a host of characters with vibrant enthusiasm. You know this is going to be a
Bible story like no other when it opens with Mary o’ t’Nazereth, a
Yorkshire lass in t’family way wi’out a father t’speak of. Immaculate
conception was probably not a popular notion in AD zero Galilee. We come across Jesus’s
half-brother James, who finds his sibling strange, and then there is
John the Baptist, a tub thumping hell raiser of a preacher man, more
River Clyde than Jordan, Gorbals rather than Galilee, a sort of Scottish
Ian Paisley who sees Jesus as a bit ineffectual against his own
certitude – even after his head is lopped off. Another of the Galilee Scots
is Judas who wants to see action rather than just words from Jesus and
ultimately betrays him, Judus is perhaps the most interesting character
in the tale, the facilitator of what turns out to be Jesus’s long
planned suicide. Incidentally if Christ’s
crucifixion was part of God’s plan then
so was Judas, in which case his action, like Christ’s death was
pre-ordained, there was nothing he could do about it, which is a key
point in another modern telling of the story, Jesus Christ Superstar,
but strangely perhaps, is not a point explored by Hurt. Hurt’s Judas though does have
some of the best lines, such as: “Galileans are often lost in thought –
because it is unfamiliar territory.”
Giving the characters accents
and personalities also gave them a familiarity as Callow swept about the
stage regularly rearranging and moving a pile of old wooden chairs, the
only props, which became almost another actor on stage. Without a word, the setting of
a line of chairs became the last supper, their hurling around the stage
in an explosion of anger brought Christ’s throwing of the money changers
from the temple into focus while the single, sad chair as Judas reaches
his inevitable end has an inexplicable poignancy. If the chairs in
Fiammetta Horvat's minimalist setplayed their part, a
third part was taken by Mark Howland’s lighting. Callow captivates an
audience in this one man play, changing characters with nothing beyond
voice and expression for two hours, including interval, which is no mean
feat, but he has help from lighting which with just a few spots creates
moods, drama and emotions. A back screen also introduces each character
by name, putting them into context. There is plenty of humour in
the piece and there are also light hearted characters, ironically the
two most responsible for Christ’s death, with Herod Antipas, educated
and brought up in Rome, lumbered by being left Galilee to rule by his
father Herod the Great, it is a land full of “hairy-knuckled terrorists
and illiterate sheep shaggers” as fare as the hedonistic Herod is
concerned. And then there is a rather
effete Pontius Pilate who tries to find some sort of common language
with Jesus – but not his native tongue; “'One doesn't speak Aramaic, one
contracts it,” Eventually he can communicate,
slowly and rather louder than normal, in the manner of the Englishman
abroad . . . “Do you speaky Greeky? He does? Thank buggery for that!”. Pilate also talks about
playing to the crowd with the cross, crucifixion and all that as some
sort of theatrical performance. A show for the natives. He could have
been plucked from a rather dark Carry On film . . . Carry On Up
Golgotha . . . Callow becomes Lazarus, raised
from the dead, and rebel leader, Jesus Barabbas, terrorist or patriot
depending upon your point of view – the whole place is full of Jesus’s
according to Herod - but the one part Callow never plays out of
the dozen or so who pass across the stage, is Jesus himself, He remains as mysterious, as
elusive as ever and perhaps that is what belief is all about, and let us
be honest, even Richard Dawkins staunch atheism relies on belief, not
proof. This is a thought provoking
piece, taking the story away from Sunday School bible stories, and
attempting to look at the man. Whether it works as theology, or really
tells us anything about the man is debatable, whether it works as
theatre is indisputable. Callow is a wonderful storyteller and his
performance is mesmerizing. It is a pity The Man Jesus, directed
by Joseph Alford, will not be travelling any deeper
into the Midlands on a tour that ends in Oxford on November 4. Roger Clarke
25-10-14
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