The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Pauline Epistles

Fans of the Inquisitor of Tarsus are taking up the cudgels on his behalf. A new play about the well-known Jewish apostate, schismatic and dispenser of helpful advice on dyspepsia (see I Timothy 5:xxiii) has roused their righteous wrath.

The play, which is to be staged at the National Theatre in a week or two, is the work of Howard Brenton, author of The Romans in Britain, a "notorious work" in the Guardian's doubtless objective estimation. What "notorious" means in this context is that when The Romans in Britain was staged at the National Theatre by Michael Bogdanov in 1980, the self-appointed public censor and guardian of morals Mary Whitehouse brought a private prosecution for obscenity. The learned Ms Whitehouse presumably had either seen the play, in which case she evidently was not corrupted by it; or else had not seen the play, in which case she had no grounds on which to judge it. However, I am sad to find that her own legal team withdrew the prosecution before it had a chance to be laughed out of court.

The new play, unimaginatively titled Paul, is described by the National Theatre's management as being irreverent and provocative; while the theatre's director, Nicholas Hytner, incriminatingly admits that it is "not a devout play" and that "it won't be satisfying to a certain kind of devout Christian". Because of these indiscretions, Hytner has received a couple of hundred letters of complaint by people, presumably a certain kind of devout Christian, who have never seen the play.

Hytner says the complainants "are all praying for me, and they are telling me I will go to hell unless I take the play off". It appears that, to a certain kind of devout Christian, pretending to know the mind of God no longer exemplifies the sin of spiritual pride.

"They are all kind of the same letter," Hytner says. "They all assume that the play is about Paul's being homosexual and misogynist; they assume it's going to be a prurient hatchet job," which it isn't. It will be "interesting and amusing" for most of Hytner's acquaintances who happen to be "people of faith". I am not sure what a "person of faith", as distinct from a devout person, is supposed to be; but I presume Hytner means to convey that Paul is not going to be this year's Jerry Springer: The Opera. Damn shame.

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