Debatable history and indisputable faith
Theatre: Paul, St James Cavalier
What happens when an atheist writes a play about the apostle Paul? Does he try to destroy the Jesus story? Does he try to substitute the most mundane of explanations to what we consider to be mysteries of Faith? Howard Brenton did both these things and more in his controversial play Paul. The strange thing was that I came away feeling uncharacteristically moved, subdued and very pensive.
Although the play leaves you in no doubt that Brenton thinks the whole Jesus story was a sham that was actually perpetuated by Paul after the equally sham conversion on the road to Damascus, the deep and uncompromising faith and the writings of the apostle Paul that are quoted throughout the play as in the very emotionally moving sermon about love that took place in Corinth, convinces you that even if the Brenton version happened to be right, the cult founded by St Paul would have been necessary to have been invented. As Brenton himself says in his introduction, Paul "was profoundly wrong but also mysteriously right".
One realises more than ever what a colossally huge influence this former Pharisee and citizen of Rome had on the history of Christianity and the world. Had St Paul not existed, Christianity would have remained yet another Jewish sect like the Sadducees and the Essenes. The apostles were not terribly keen on converting gentiles, in fact the pre-Pauline church insisted on circumcision before baptism; something that Paul fought tooth and nail against. "My brother's message was for Jews" declares James, played very intensely by Victor Debono. It is through the journeys of St Paul that Christianity was brought to us in Malta in AD60. St Paul is therefore one of those "ifs" which our subsequent world history could have been radically different.
What I thought was over the top was the constant hype this play was given in the media by way of PR. Post Da Vinci Code we are fed up to the teeth of being told about further shocking "historical" revelations. Too much of the plot was given before one actually saw the play. In fact most of the time it was all too predictable. The play itself can easily stand on its own without being "sold" as yet another "shocker" which was not shocking at all. Let's hope that the same will not happen when Unifaun regale us with their next production, Peter Schaffer's Equus. Coincidentally, this production that started on February 16 at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End has had lots of international publicity as the actor taking the part of Alan Strang is no other than Daniel Radcliffe or as he is better known, Harry Potter!
Whenever I have been asked about books that attempt to disprove the Jesus story as bunkum, I have always replied that while history is debatable, faith is indisputable. I will not go into the details of Brenton's historical theories for I am not writing for those who did not see the play but writing this as a discussion board for those who did. We have had so many onslaughts on our faith that yet another is neither here nor there. What is more important about Brenton's play is that the Roman Catholic religion really does owe its very existence to Paul alone; whether it was all a figment of his epileptic visions is another question that we will never be able to answer.
Manuel Cauchi's Paul was his greatest and most taxing role yet. It is tremendously intense. The single-mindedness of Brenton's Paul was beautifully brought out. Cauchi literally became Paul. I will not forget that superb scene with Paul Portelli's ethereal Jesus during the conversion scene in a hurry; nor will I forget the meeting with Stefan Cachia Zammit's splendidly played Barnabas in the Arabian desert and the words of consecration. I could not help being amused by Paul's total bewilderment when confronted by Mary (Magdalene?) as Jesus's wife played very shrewishly by Maria Buckle. One immediately recalled the apostle's well-known chauvinism. He was quite prepared to revere her as a living saint but simply could not cope with her earthiness. The imprisonment scenes with Kevin Drake's well-cast Peter, in which the entire story is re-enacted like the dénouement Agatha Christie novel, giving alternative explanations to the story as we believed it, were very strong and held the play together like a recurrent leitmotif. The lynchpin of the entire play is Paul; his emotions, his drive, his moral strength, his stubbornness, his bravery and even his humanity, all brought out with the craft of a master by Manuel Cauchi.
The final scene with Paul Portelli, this time playing a very degenerate but prophetic Emperor Nero who visited Peter and Paul in prison the night before their execution, was a superb bit of climactic theatre. Ironic that the man who played Jesus, the Son of God who was supposed to have died and rose again, also played the deified Nero in his female role of Selene, goddess of the moon. The uncanny predictions all made with the benefit of hindsight assured Paul that he was not giving up his life for nothing and convinced Peter that the lie was worth preserving after all, to the extent that it was then that he decided to be crucified upside down as a tribute to what amounted to a fictional character of Paul's fevered imagination; Jesus Christ!
I always enjoy Chris Gatt's direction as it is always bold and uninhibited. I always enjoy the unfussiness of productions at St James where we are irresistibly drawn into the action and the prose of the play without visual distractions. I admire the tenacity of Unifaun Theatre to stick to its guns and put up theatre productions that make one think. When one attends a play like Paul, one cannot help reflecting upon it and discussing it. As Adrian Buckle pointed out in his introduction "Some have criticised us saying that people who do not have strong beliefs will be misled by this play. I believe that such people would have lost their faith anyway, because they have never been encouraged to understand; because they have always been told to accept".
Although the play leaves you in no doubt that Brenton thinks the whole Jesus story was a sham that was actually perpetuated by Paul after the equally sham conversion on the road to Damascus, the deep and uncompromising faith and the writings of the apostle Paul that are quoted throughout the play as in the very emotionally moving sermon about love that took place in Corinth, convinces you that even if the Brenton version happened to be right, the cult founded by St Paul would have been necessary to have been invented. As Brenton himself says in his introduction, Paul "was profoundly wrong but also mysteriously right".
One realises more than ever what a colossally huge influence this former Pharisee and citizen of Rome had on the history of Christianity and the world. Had St Paul not existed, Christianity would have remained yet another Jewish sect like the Sadducees and the Essenes. The apostles were not terribly keen on converting gentiles, in fact the pre-Pauline church insisted on circumcision before baptism; something that Paul fought tooth and nail against. "My brother's message was for Jews" declares James, played very intensely by Victor Debono. It is through the journeys of St Paul that Christianity was brought to us in Malta in AD60. St Paul is therefore one of those "ifs" which our subsequent world history could have been radically different.
What I thought was over the top was the constant hype this play was given in the media by way of PR. Post Da Vinci Code we are fed up to the teeth of being told about further shocking "historical" revelations. Too much of the plot was given before one actually saw the play. In fact most of the time it was all too predictable. The play itself can easily stand on its own without being "sold" as yet another "shocker" which was not shocking at all. Let's hope that the same will not happen when Unifaun regale us with their next production, Peter Schaffer's Equus. Coincidentally, this production that started on February 16 at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End has had lots of international publicity as the actor taking the part of Alan Strang is no other than Daniel Radcliffe or as he is better known, Harry Potter!
Whenever I have been asked about books that attempt to disprove the Jesus story as bunkum, I have always replied that while history is debatable, faith is indisputable. I will not go into the details of Brenton's historical theories for I am not writing for those who did not see the play but writing this as a discussion board for those who did. We have had so many onslaughts on our faith that yet another is neither here nor there. What is more important about Brenton's play is that the Roman Catholic religion really does owe its very existence to Paul alone; whether it was all a figment of his epileptic visions is another question that we will never be able to answer.
Manuel Cauchi's Paul was his greatest and most taxing role yet. It is tremendously intense. The single-mindedness of Brenton's Paul was beautifully brought out. Cauchi literally became Paul. I will not forget that superb scene with Paul Portelli's ethereal Jesus during the conversion scene in a hurry; nor will I forget the meeting with Stefan Cachia Zammit's splendidly played Barnabas in the Arabian desert and the words of consecration. I could not help being amused by Paul's total bewilderment when confronted by Mary (Magdalene?) as Jesus's wife played very shrewishly by Maria Buckle. One immediately recalled the apostle's well-known chauvinism. He was quite prepared to revere her as a living saint but simply could not cope with her earthiness. The imprisonment scenes with Kevin Drake's well-cast Peter, in which the entire story is re-enacted like the dénouement Agatha Christie novel, giving alternative explanations to the story as we believed it, were very strong and held the play together like a recurrent leitmotif. The lynchpin of the entire play is Paul; his emotions, his drive, his moral strength, his stubbornness, his bravery and even his humanity, all brought out with the craft of a master by Manuel Cauchi.
The final scene with Paul Portelli, this time playing a very degenerate but prophetic Emperor Nero who visited Peter and Paul in prison the night before their execution, was a superb bit of climactic theatre. Ironic that the man who played Jesus, the Son of God who was supposed to have died and rose again, also played the deified Nero in his female role of Selene, goddess of the moon. The uncanny predictions all made with the benefit of hindsight assured Paul that he was not giving up his life for nothing and convinced Peter that the lie was worth preserving after all, to the extent that it was then that he decided to be crucified upside down as a tribute to what amounted to a fictional character of Paul's fevered imagination; Jesus Christ!
I always enjoy Chris Gatt's direction as it is always bold and uninhibited. I always enjoy the unfussiness of productions at St James where we are irresistibly drawn into the action and the prose of the play without visual distractions. I admire the tenacity of Unifaun Theatre to stick to its guns and put up theatre productions that make one think. When one attends a play like Paul, one cannot help reflecting upon it and discussing it. As Adrian Buckle pointed out in his introduction "Some have criticised us saying that people who do not have strong beliefs will be misled by this play. I believe that such people would have lost their faith anyway, because they have never been encouraged to understand; because they have always been told to accept".