Friday March 29, 2024
Paul
Review

Paul

May 8 2007

Paul, Company B, Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, May 2-June 3, 2007; (02) 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au

As played by Robert Menzies, with spittle-laden, over-enunciated, wild-eyed intensity, Paul - the man who resurrected from the dead Jesus's career as Saviour - is a curious mixture of unprepossessing screwball and irritating fanatic. The kind of man who hands out tightly scribbled leaflets at railways stations whose direct gaze commuters try desperately to avoid. Just the kind of man, probably, who was once a worldly cynic (Saul) before converting to fundamentalist believer on the road to Damascus (Paul).

The loony fanaticism Howard Brenton explores in this play is not necessarily about religion. As Paul galvanises the depressed disciples into action to Get out there, Spread the word, Feed the chooks and Buy the votes, there is some undefinable force of will at work. This Paul does not have the charismatic attraction of a Billy Graham or Anthony Robbins. Instead, there is a whiff we might recognise as something akin to the Brut-ish scent of traditional Sussex Street thuggery, or even the goofy menace of Tony Abbott's mob. The aphrodisia of power, perhaps.

PaulBrenton has said: "My view is that Jesus will never return and there is no God." It seems reasonable enough as a belief - more so than the Rapture for instance, a version of which Paul espouses in the play. (The end of the world is nigh, God is coming and if you're not with us, you're dead.) Essentially, fear is the key, uncertainty the wellspring.

Paul is obeyed and followed not because they Believe, but perhaps because belief - faith - is better than none at all in the dark days of the crumbling Roman Empire. Whether religious faith is the chicken or the egg of Dark Ages is a question that frequently comes to mind during Paul. As is the question of whether there is life after intermission.

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The first half of Paul is a pretty dry old desert. Sparkling refreshment is eventually provided by the late entrance into the action of Jesus's widow, a particularly sassy, no-bull Mary Magdalene (Paula Arundell). As it is in most Christian faiths, however, the Magdalene's presence is fleeting and tantalising. And in keeping with the history, she's virtually written out of it here too.

History is referenced cleverly and evocatively by designer Adam Gardnir and lighting designer Matt Scott. Between them, they place Paul in a powerful Everyplace, once strong now shattered. Be it Gaza, Beirut, Belfast, Kosovo or any post-industrial factory wasteland, the rubble, twisted reinforced steel and broken concrete slabs are inhuman, unkind and almost mock their inhabitants. It's an effect which is highlighted by whimsical wall stencils which allude to the work of contemporary artist Banksy and also to the story's modern parallels. The setting allows director Wesley Enoch to group and regroup his actors in coherent and effective scenes and he makes the most of these possibilities.

From St Paul's letter to the Corinthians

There are many different interpretations of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. They range from rap to King James. Here's the New International version:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Paul

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Howard Brenton is one of the UK's most prolific drama writers, although this is his first original work for the stage in ten years. (If you're a fan of ABC TV's Spooks you will have seen what he's been doing in the interim while out of favour at the NT). Paul apparently caused great offence to some 200 letter writers who bombarded Nicholas Hytner (artistic director of the National Theatre and the man who commissioned Brenton) with their ire. It's difficult to work out why. Paul is portrayed neither as misogynist nor gay - two favourite tactics of would-be shockers - but rather as a sincere if tiresome man whose visions and conversion may have been triggered by epilepsy.

More controversial, perhaps, are the clear parallels with today's religious fundamentalist fanatics. It's probable the 200 would think only of the Islamic variety, however. The wild-eyed extremists who take Jesus's name in vain while banging tambourines and sitting in judgement on the rest of us are not like that. No siree. That so-called "Christian" evangelism has killed millions and destroyed cultures around the world in the name of western civilisation and progress is neither here nor there. The occasional and recurrent longeurs in the play allow this kind of space for reflection.

As Paul fearfully awaits death in a Roman prison cell he is visited by emperor Nero. (Jonathan Hardy in an amusing son-of-Frank Thring performance which chillingly demonstrates why preening buffoons - Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Kim Jong Il - make the worst despots.) The rest of the cast, especially Steve Le Marquand and Hazem Shammas, also inhabit their roles with total conviction and bring much to the play.

Its most affecting moment is when Paul recites from his own letter to the people of Corinth - the one about love (charity). Later, it also provoked an unrelated thought about where education (religious and secular) is in this country when one member of the audience can say to her mate, on the way out: "It's a good story, innit? I wonder if it's true."

 

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