Featuring Katherine Sanders, Ryan Gladstone. Written by Sanders, Gladstone, Bruce Horak. Directed by Horak. Presented by Monster Theatre. To Jan 13. Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst. 416-966-1062. Part of Next Stage Theatre Festival. www.nextstagefestival.com.
Well of course the messiah’s mysterious mid-life makes for perfect comedy fodder. Aside from the fact that Jesus’ first attempts at that famously handsome beard would be patchy at best, and his sermonious voice would have gone through a few awkward octave leaps, he was after all the son of God — and how much more ridiculously self-righteous could a teenager be?
But in the twisted hands of Monster Theatre co-writers/co-stars Katherine Sanders and Ryan Gladstone, the unaccounted-for years of JC (spanning age 13 to 30 for those un-scriptured among us) yield a wacky not-ready-for-official-gospel narrative packed with obscure ancient Near Eastern name-dropping (someone named Angry Menu), biblical double-entendres (“No way?... Yahweh!”) and random pop-culture demons (even Chucky). Accompanied by an excellent live musical score and minimal, yet effective props, Sanders and Gladstone juggle the role of Jesus between them whilst providing every other possible character our young hero might have encountered, from John the Baptist to a young Judas Iscariot to the king himself: Elvis Presley. Clever songs, hilarious wordplay and continuous sense of total bewilderment make for a sacrilicious 50 minutes.
http://monstertheatre.com
Cast: Katherine Sanders and Ryan Gladstone
Composer: Drew Jurecka
Stage Manager: Michelle Field
Play-comedy / General Audience / Warning: sacrilege
Running time: 60 Minutes
Factory Theatre Mainspace
Wed, January 2 - 9:15 pm
Thu, January 3 - 9:00 pm
Fri, January 4 - 7:15 pm
Sat, January 5 - 5:45 pm
Sun, January 6 - 7:30 pm
Wed, January 9 - 8:45 pm
Fri, January 11 - 5:15 pm
Sat, January 12 - 7:15 pm
Sun, January 13 - 3:15 pm
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For more ticket and pass information click here.