Peter Barnes, the heretical playwright who dared to give us a truly funny comedy about Auschwitz (Laughter!), here ruminates on the problems of faith: faith versus chaos, individual faith versus organised faith. A Puritan minister in 1656 calls upon a renegade ranter to resurrect his beloved; three rabbis in Lublin in 1812 meet to condemn God and excommunicate Him. Sounds heavy and unappetising, but Barnes's deft juggling of gravitas and silliness carries it off without a single dull pontifical thud and the company resist the temptations to overplay either the angst or the gags. A bit of a beaut, in fact.
Written for City Limits magazine.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.
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