Sacrament or sacrilege: you be the judge

By LINDA HERRICK

It takes a brave person to tackle Terrence McNally's "gay Jesus" play, Corpus Christi. It has set off extreme forms of protest among fundamentalist religious groups in the United States and Britain.

It has also been defended equally strongly by the gay and artistic communities who support its worth and the right to stage it.

So while the Auckland director of a production of Corpus Christi opening at the Maidment this week knows it will upset some people, he asks them to hold off judgment until they've seen it.

"When the debate arose over The Vagina Monologues, it was all to do with people who hadn't seen it or read the script," says Lex Matheson, who has worked as an actor and director in stage, film and television for 30 years. "All I would say is what one always says in this kind of situation: come and see the play and see what you think."

Corpus Christi, set in the Texan city of the same name, loosely follows the life of a character named Joshua, or Jesus. Moving from the 1950s to the 90s, Joshua/Jesus is gay, and so are his 12 disciples. There are female roles in the play, including Mary and Mary Magdalene, played by men. As with the story of Christ, John the Baptist baptises Jesus; the Temptation takes place in the Texan desert; miracles are performed, including the healing of a man with HIV; a mirage of Satan (in the form of the spirit of James Dean) appears; the Last Supper is performed with the Sacrament - and Judas betrays his friend. Corpus Christi ends with the crucifixion of Joshua/Jesus.

McNally has won three Tony Awards for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, which was staged here by the Auckland Theatre Company a few years ago. Matheson says McNally wrote Corpus Christi around the time the sadistic murders of two young American gays made international headlines: Matthew Shepherd, who was beaten, burned and left hanging on a fence; and Brandon Teena, whose life and death were portrayed in the Oscar-winning movie Boys Don't Cry.

"McNally didn't write it specifically with any reference to the martyring of Matthew Shepherd but that happened at around the same time as he was writing it so it obviously informed the work he was doing," says Matheson. "Along with the murder of Brandon Teena, they were the two most notable hate crimes of the past decade."

Matheson likens Corpus Christi to a morality play. "There are parts that are hysterically funny but every time you think, 'That's outrageous', you go back 400 years and it's exactly what the church was doing in those times with the mystery cycles and the morality plays. It is very spiritual but also very funny."

It's an expensive operation with its large cast of 13 men and commercially risky subject matter. That's why it's being staged by Matheson's independent Company of Angels production unit, rather than, say, the ATC. "It's easier for an independent company to do a play like this than a repertory company which may have a staff to support," says Matheson. "If you're commercially funded or sponsored you do have to be a bit careful. The ATC is very courageous in its programming but it's a lot easier for us to do it."

Matheson, who was the recipient of the inaugural WestpacTrust Arts Excellence Award in 1998, says a friend who came in to watch a rehearsal puzzled over the sexuality of the 13 actors. "He asked which ones were gay and which ones were straight. You would not be able to tell the difference and for us it's not an issue. I will say with regard to the actors who play Joshua and Jesus that one is gay and one is straight. But you won't know which. They are simply actors and they want to do the play.

"Everyone knows the story of Jesus Christ. But the play has a powerful modern message in the sense that the Christ character is queer, his disciples are queer, and unashamedly so. Consequently there are things represented in the play which are gay. To have people see Corpus Christi and talk about those issues [is positive]. Good theatre should spark debate." Linda Herrick

* Corpus Christi, Maidment Theatre Studio, from Wednesday to June 8.