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PaulExploring faith?PAUL I went to see Paul by Howard Brenton at the National. It was about the life of the apostle and was supposed to be exploring faith. According to the review programme ‘Front Row’ on BBC Radio 4, it was an ‘intelligent’ play that ‘allowed the audience to think for themselves’. From a dramatic point of view it was a striking bit of theatre, and some of the scenes stayed in my mind, having made a deep impression visually and in terms of atmosphere. However, I did think that it was horribly cliched, with all the usual old twists to the story, i.e. Paul had temporal lobe epilepsy and his conversion was a psychotic experience, Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and didn’t actually die on the cross. There were a couple of amusing lines, but on the whole the humour was a bit Eastenders. Of course, it is a little difficult to evaluate objectively when the subject matter is so close to the heart, but I would have expected either a more balanced attitude or at least a little more originality for a play to be described as intelligent. The play was probably useful in understanding a non-Christian attitude towards faith... But what a pity that the conclusion that faith amounts to incantation of dogma in the face of facts proving the dogma to be a lie! Somewhat empty, and not even beautifully empty... I’m not sure that the play will still be around and in regualar performance in years to come. Olivia Bush© Evangelicals Now - January 2006 |