Anyway onto the new Bush Theatre’s 66 Books - a spectacular 24 hour event featuring 66 short plays inspired by the 66 books of the Bible. As the tagline goes – 66 writers, 23 directors and 130 actors. Let’s just say it was one hell of a 24 hours.
Over 8 posts (4 now and 4 once I’ve had time to write them) I’m going to try and relive the entire event – not necessarily with a critical response, but with a personal one. Because this was intensely personal and magical and overwhelming.
One last thing – if you’re going to the next 24 hour event (and if you possibly can, you should) – don’t read this before you go. Go in unspoilt and uncoloured by my feelings and ideas. Also do take a spare pair of socks; I can’t begin to express how much I was craving them by the end.
(All photos copyright Mark Douet)
PART 1
1. Godblog by Jeanette Winterson (Genesis)
“In the beginning there was no social network site. Not even a Wi-Fi cafe. Only Dust and Space-Time. I saw an opportunity. To create a worldwide brand you need a world. Planet Earth. My Big Idea. Start with a Bang.”
So a big name in the form of Catherine Tate to kick off the event (or perhaps more than one big name as her cohort David Tennant was in the audience for this first section) and I definitely have to say that I love that God is not only a woman but she’s also ginger. Tate did a good job with a very funny tweet based script from Winterson – though by the end the broad stereotypes had worn a little thin for me and I couldn’t help wishing it had delved a little deeper emotionally.
2. The Crossing by Anne Michaels (Exodus) *
“And he knelt with joy and
fear, his kneeling was a rising up,
and he knew for the first time
we can be cracked open,
crushed like an almond shell,
to feel the soul released, open and transfixed
with purpose. Every soul
has a task.”
Ah, I thought this was beautiful, a lyrical poem filled with awe that gave Moses a sense of vitality and tragic passion. I loved the way it danced gloriously with ideas of storytelling and duality. Polly Frame was superb, both physically and emotionally reaching out and drawing the audience in with a wonderful commitment and honesty. (BTW every time we got to a break in the performances I tried to pick a favourite or two from what I’d just seen and marked them with a star, I’ve decided to leave those stars on here – though more for my own benefit, than anyone else’s.)
3. The Modesty by Caroline Bird (Leviticus)
“People talk about locking things away in little boxes inside their minds. This isn’t a metaphor, you know. It’s real. The prophets just want the doctor’s to think it’s a metaphor because then they won’t bother to guide you through the mansion and help you gently unlock the box, not breaking anything, help you to understand what’s inside. No. They’ll just give you a piece of paper and some crayons and tell you to express yourself...”
I must admit that I was a little lost on this one, though also fascinated. I’m not sure if it was my lack of knowledge about Leviticus (I’ve never got past Exodus in my attempts at Bible reading) or the dense creativeness of the piece. A different world being created, kept just short of understandable.
4. The Opening of the Mouth by Neil Bartlett (Numbers)
“What I remember is; the book being ready, the getting up, the walking up, the exact temperature and April light, and the starting to speak; the opening of the mouth to speak... and once the mouth of the ass is opened, it is opened.”
I struggled a little with the stories based around a pulpit (there were a few during the night), possibly it was that they took me back to my own childhood and zoning out listening to sermons in church. Which is partly what this piece is about – it shifts between memory and the present as a man relives reading from Numbers as a child. It’s an interesting look at how a stories meaning shifts as our experiences changes for us, even if it didn’t completely work for me.
BREAK (yes I'm going to be marking these out as well - diary as this is)
5. The Rules by Maha Khan Phillips (Deuteronomy)
“I was not a man, or a brother, or a stranger. I was a mere woman. And so I was condemned. But hang on, hang on, I know what you’re thinking. I deserved it right? I did kick him in the balls, which is definitely a no no, it says so in the rules. In black and white, underlined...”
Bit torn on this one, on one hand I really loved the play but on the other I found the staging very difficult. The actress, Anjana Vasan, didn’t appear on the stage but was instead represented by a voice issuing from an unmarked grave at the front of the stage. Though the vocal performance was warm and inviting, I felt separate and disconnected from the story and that felt like a shame.
6. Sole Fide – By Faith Alone by Daisy Hasan (Joshua)
"Dusk was coming down over the hill. A way of thinking alien to him came to Joshua. The unfamiliar thoughts that struck him astonished him for their courage and simplicity. The joy of rebellion gushed up in him.”
Interestingly in its written form this is more like a prose story than a play but director Gbolahan Obisesan has given it an interesting very dynamic approach, with the three performers constantly in motion, creating a variety of characters through subtle changes in their performances – performing both the dialogue and the narrating. It was fun and irreverent and made me want to find out more about both the setting and the book it was based upon.
7. Beardy by Tom Wells (Judges) *
“ ‘Where is it then?’ she goes. ‘My lion? Where’s my bastard lion?”
Nobody knows.
I mean I do but. Not sure if now’s a good time.”
Oh I loved this one, definitely one of the books vying for favourite for me. Though I have absolutely no idea how it connected to Judges but it didn’t matter – it was quirky, magical, full of light joyful touches, tinged with genuine sadness, full of humour and had a fantastic grasp of common speech. Plus Obi Abili was superb. Who knew so much could come from a story of the unrequited love of a strong man for his beaded lady.
8. The Book of Ruth (& Naomi) by Stella Duffy (Ruth) *
“RUTH: Yes. After that, she was all ‘Get washed and anointed and dressed up, go and show yourself when he’s spent the night eating and drinking.’ Said I should go in when he’s lying down, and uncover his feet – his feet!
NAOMI: I know what Elimelech’s family are like.
RUTH: She said he’d tell me what to do. So I did.
NAOMI: And he did.”
I adored this playlet as well, there was a soft familiarity and fondness between Kate Duchêne’s Naomi and Nikki Amuka-Bird’s Ruth. A shared history, a deep love and a forgiveness for the things they’d lost and the thing’s they’d had to do in the past. It was charming and beautiful and tinged with both laughter and sorrow. And the kiss at the end was wonderful.
9. David and Goliath by Andrew Motion (1 Samuel)
“That was his message. My message was a question:
Is there not a cause? I took up my staff in one hand,
my sling in the other, and picked five smooth stones
from the brook. I looked at the stones and they looked
back at me. The stones knew all there was of history.”
The major feeling this one left was surprise at its shortness, it was over in what felt like seconds, like a final gasp. An odd feeling given how largely David lives in the other stories from the Old Testament and I sort of like it for that, even if all I took from the story was the image of five stones clasped in a hand.
BREAK FOR DINNER
Part 2
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