Christ Church, Chelmsford
30.04.10
Controversially, the BBC chose Dennis Potter to write a Play for Today about the last days of Jesus, a Passion Play for the end of the Sixties.
Now Christ Church London Road is celebrating 40 years, and presenting a stage version of the same piece.
The two dozen short scenes betray its small-screen origins; choral interludes have been added, with the choir also the crowd.
This is a down-to-earth Messiah, taking a carpenter's interest in the cross, often angry and unsure, questioning his destiny in the wilderness at the start, and on Golgotha at the end. A towering central performance from Steve Moriaty, with a startlingly direct Sermon on the Mount, “Love Your Enemies” his war cry.
There were many other interesting interpretations: Justin Oakley's Pilate was a reasonable man, clearly accustomed to command, and Phyllis Chaney made a real character out of the few lines given to his wife. Caiphas [Peter Wilkinson] was a strong presence, though he was almost upstaged by his beard; his conservative religion nicely contrasted with the fresh enthusiasm of the young Fishers of Men [Alex Houlton and Michael Archer].
Understandably, Vernon Finding's production treated the story with more reverence than Potter intended, and the pace was slow at times, not helped by the constant changes of scene.
Nonetheless, this was a worthy revival of a classic drama, and an enlightened choice by Christ Church.
