THE MYSTERIES
April 2001
 

Cumbernauld News 11 April 2001 - "Such sweet little mysetries"

The major community drama, 'The mysteries' played to a packed Cumbernauld Theatre last week, earning great acclaim for all who took part. 

There was a lot packed into this show, as every drama group associated with the Theatre had a part to play, making for a cast of 180 men, women and children. 

Thankfully, there was a lot of material too, as the production reinterpreted the bible - pretty much all of it - with the junior groups taking care of most of the New Testament in the first, followed by the Old Testament section with the senior youth theatre, adult amateur group No Mean Company and 1 in 100, the theatre group for people with special needs. 

Cumbernauld Theatre's new community arts and education officer, Terri Jones was in overall charge and had the unenviable task of taking what could have been a fractured, ungainly mess of disparate sketches and turning it into a streamlined cohesive production.  

And it worked

The sketch format was especially well-suited to the Old Testament section, as pretty much every story features a whole new cast of characters. 

Dramatic

The children performed some of the obligatory 'cute bits' - particularly the Garden of Eden and Noah's Ark, but also had some dramatic moments to tackle, particularly a well-choreographed drowning sequence in 'The Story of Noah'. 

The biggest laugh was provided during 'David the Giant Killer'. The man playing Goliath was over twice the size of the tallest child actors, so watching him square up to a little girl playing David was particularly funny. 

The second half, based on the New Testament, combined the life of Christ with the Parables. 

The senior youth theatre performed a unique take on the Nativity, by cutting gout almost all the Bethlehem scenes, instead concentrating on the wise men telling their spouses that they are about to go off chasing a star. 

Played as out-and-out comedy, these sketches were very funny, with the teenage actors doing a good job of portraying jaded married couples. 

1 in 100 and No Mean Company shared the Parables and Gospels. No Mean Company focused on the stories of Christ, with a TV news crew trying and failing to record his various miracles up to his resurrection. The was an unusual but effective approach, as it served as narration and also raised questions about the nature of religious faith. 

1 in 100 acted out stories told by Christ, best of which was 'The Good Supporter', which brought the message of the Good Samaritan home to contemporary audiences by swapping football loyalties for ancient nationalities. 

The production may have taken one or two liberties with the Good Book, for example, surely Lucifer's fall from heaven isn't how the original text begins, and the dialogue wasn't exactly quoted verbatim.

Budgetary constraints may have put paid to the 'special effects' bits of the bible, such as Revelations and about half or Exodus, (even Cecil B. de Mille would have been hard pressed do the parting of the Red Sea with just a blue blanket) but what was there provided a good evening's worth of entertainment that went down well with the audiences. It seemed like everyone on stage was having a great time of it too.

And who knows, maybe Armageddon will feature in a sequel...