Oh My God at Marrickville's Flight Path Theatre earns four stars from Nick Bennett for its cheeky biblical satire, inventive staging and lively ensemble.
In the current politico-religious climate around the world, where tempers are permanently running high and offense-taking has become the default stance when matters of religion are raised, where violent retaliation against those who express even the slightest of non-P.C. opinions has become normalised & satire can get you killed, to write and produce a play that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the Old Testament is either a very brave act or a very foolhardy one. The fact that "Oh My God" is a prequel to "Christ Almighty: A Musical of Biblical Proportions", and that the writer/director Tommy James Green is still with us, is a testament (pun intended) to the - is it tolerance or indifference of Sydney's nominally Christian theatre going community - a sort of "No Charlie Hebdoe Please - We're Aussies" attitude.
While Green describes himself as a "flawed Catholic", he has had the good sense to engage a Jewish Cultural Consultant for this production. As he put it, OMG is not about satirising the core beliefs of Judaism, but taking a somewhat quizzical look at a few of the better known, rather 'colourful' stories of the Old Testament: Adam & Eve & the talking snake; Abraham's injunction to sacrifice his son Isaac ("No, I was just kidding"); Noah and the Ark full of animals, including jaguars, sloths, pandas, koalas, cockatoos, polar bears, caribou ... and snakes; Moses parting the Red Sea, plus a couple of other fun events. All this is framed in the context of God explaining his actions, his "Mysterious Ways" to his disaffected son Jesus, who has just ascended to Heaven and wants to get to know his dad better. He's also curious about the highly unconventional, seemingly co-dependent relationship his father has with Lucifer. it's all very confusing, and, one has to admit, more than a little silly-funny, when it's not resulting in the death and destruction of millions of humans, animals and entire civilisations.
And when put that way, it does, I'll admit, sound quite heavy, but it's not, well not entirely. Green's script is unafraid to confront the BIG issues: free will & determinism; good & evil, and if Adam & Eve only had two sons - Cain and Abel, how did ... I think you follow my drift. BUT, and it's a big 'but', it is all done with a PlaySkool sweetness and playfulness combined with a Marx Bros. zaniness, chaotic energy, and an upending of theatrical conventions. For example, there is something irrepressibly silly, funny, cheeky, clever in having Natasha Cheng dressed as a panda on Noah's Ark and speaking all her lines in Chinese. Truly a stroke of brilliance.
I mentioned Cheng, and I was about to list some of the other actors who gave stand-out performances, but in truth there are no weak performers in this large ensemble cast, who throw themselves into every absurd scenario with unbridled passion. The script may not get a thumbs up from all the theologians in the audience, but it is undeniably clever, witty, outrageous and irreverent, while managing to sidestep some obvious doctrinal landmines. Equally, the direction, also by Green, is inventive, OTT and makes the most of the improvisational talents and experience of his cast, while turning every performance trope on its head.
He and the cast are well served by the production team, particularly the set designer - Max Shaw, and costume designer - Denise Tart. Their PlaySkool aesthetic perfectly captures the spirit of the writing: witty, inventive, unpretentious and fun - a style that embraces the audience and invites us to meet the cast and production team halfway. This is not the sort of show where production budgets are generous and the audience can just sit back and wallow in the spectacle. With OMG, we are once again cast as young children sitting in front of the TV watching grown-ups pretend a piece of blue cloth is a river, and encouraging us to play along. It's the willing suspension of disbelief, and the audience loved it. I also loved that the writer/director's mum made the costumes, and they are a delight.
Obviously, in a sketch format play, some stories will be funnier than others - the Garden of Eden & the Ark scenes are especially hilarious, but no scene fails to induce a decent amount of laughter - certainly the octogenarian lady sitting next to me thought so, and the more risque the jokes the harder she laughed. The night I saw it the cast were still finding their feet, hooves, claws, and the energy levels were a little uneven, but after a couple of performances I'm sure this will be sorted out. OMG is the type of show that absolutely needs an audience and unquestionably deserves one, so do yourself a favour, take a break from the SBS News doom & gloom, and head down to the Flight Path Theatre in Marrickville. Oh My God is playing till Saturday Oct 31.
4 stars
Photos by: Tree Oak Films
Reviewed by: Nick Bennett