THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS
AIRDATE: April 02, 2004
Christ is on
the cross in the movies, God is being debated in the Pledge of Allegiance, and
we’ve got crucifixion and redemption on San Diego stages. The dramatist shoots
for satire and the theologian for philosophical fantasy. Spiritual matters are
at the heart of “The Great Divorce” and “Resurrection Blues.”
Morality has
always been on the mind of the great American playwright, Arthur Miller, and
the acclaimed Irish scholar C.S. Lewis. In Miller’s “Resurrection Blues,” a
revolutionary Messiah has sprung up in the mountains of an unnamed South
American country. The all-powerful but sexually impotent dictator, drowning in
national and personal woes, decides to crucify the man publicly, hoping to bail
out his country by accepting the offer of $25 million from a U.S. TV station
that wants exclusive rights. The play spotlights excesses of media vulgarity,
consumerism and hypocrisy, but the attempts at sly humor are overwhelmed by
implausible plot-lines and preachy sermonizing, as the playwright slips from
moralist to moralizer.
The characters
may be shallow, stereotypical or improbable, but the play has a surprisingly
upbeat (if simplistic) message: All You Need is Love. On opening night, there
was more declaiming than interacting onstage. But the set was inventively
quirky and there were some sucker-punch speeches. As the conscience of the
country, Miller always offers us something to think about, talk about, even
rage about. And having him sitting across the aisle at the Globe was frankly
thrilling. This may not be one of his timeless masterpieces, but it is, as
always, incredibly timely.
When C.S. Lewis
considers Heaven and Hell, time is irrelevant. He may have died 41 years ago,
but his work remains both popular and provocative. In “The Great Divorce,”
written to counter William Blake’s conception of “The Marriage of Heaven and
Hell,” Lewis suggests that whether one goes upstairs or downstairs after death
is more a matter of faith and free will than divine judgment. People are where
they are because they’ve chosen to be there, even given the option to leave.
In this
allegory, adapted for the stage by Lamb’s Players artistic director Robert
Smyth, a newly deceased seeker joins a busload of ghosts from Grey Town, a
lonely rainy place, for a day-trip up to the idyllic Bright Plain. She meets
all manner of sinners who, despite enticements to stay in Heaven, indignantly
take their resentment, cynicism, lust, or pride back with them to Hell. The
Lamb’s Players production is often beautiful to behold, with imaginative
costumes, evocative sound and lighting and some gripping performances. But the
points are made repeatedly and in the second act, dryly and didactically. Briefer would be better… but right now, it’s
exhilarating to have some truly meaty issues to chew on after a night at the
theater.
I'm Pat Launer, for KPBS news.
©2004 Patté Productions Inc.