Fringe Christian top two

I’m surprised that Christianity has any credit left in theatre. It’s not that I’m complaining – it’s just that it’s been getting such a pasting lately, and atheism has become the default setting for anyone who wants to boast of their intellectual prowess. Comedians have been quick on the up-take: if I see another loud-mouthed Australian comic deconstructing the story of Noah’s ark, I might literally die of boredom.

Perhaps the various Judeo-Christian inspired plays aren’t expressions of a stubborn faith, but are the signs of a religion becoming part of the artistic rather than spiritual world. I’ll doubtless work out a fairytale top ten later in the Fringe: perhaps Biblical stories offer similar opportunities to Grimm tales. It might even be evidence of anti-religious sentiment. These plays might ruthlessly mock Christian beliefs.

It’s unlikely that Inquiry into the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Christadelphian Church) is going to be too cynical. It’s odd to see it between a two-hander about marriage going bad and a study of internet relationships in the theatre section: it has the flavour of an intellectual discussion than a performance.

Cain (theSpace) is one of the Bible’s bad boys: first murderer, gives God cheek, and ended up getting a mark on his noggin (a detail used to horribly racist effect by various Christian groups in the less enlightened past) so that the other kids knew not to play with him. Municipal Theatre, London kit him out as a prototype Faustus, getting him involved in a deal with the Big Bad, Lucifer.

I’m not sure this is strictly Biblical – as far as I remember, Cain got sent off for his fratricidal antics, and ends up a bit-part actor in the unfolding of the Torah – but it suggests that the old stories retain an iconic power.