Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh until Sat 22 Mar @ 19:30 plus matinees
Good people will do good things, goes the old chestnut, but only religion makes good people do bad things. Playwright Howard Brenton brings the world of religious medieval France to life in this feisty retelling of one of the greatest love stories ever told. He takes the themes of philosophical thought, religion and love – sacred and profane – and creates a thought-provoking script (it has already had a glorious season at Shakespeare’s Globe in London) that zips along, combining high seriousness, humour and tragedy.
Abelard (David Sturzaker) is the young radical scholar who spouts Aristotle and Héloïse (Jo Herbert) is the forward-thinking foundling, bookish beyond her years to whom he is teaching the scriptures and much else besides. The passionate abandon of their love scandalised 12th century France but others see Abelard’s questioning intellect as sinful and heretical. He may well make Pope one-day but this is not the way to go about it. His most powerful opponent is the fanatical abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux (Sam Crane), who is determined to put a stop to Abelard.
This is an excellent production from director John Dove and the creative team responsible for the luminous Anne Boleyn in 2012. The acting throughout is faultless, the set simple but effective and there’s an evocative score from William Lyons, provided by a three-piece on-stage ensemble. The Abelard and Héloïse story is as famous as that of Romeo and Juliet and their love letters remain in print in paperback even today. According to Brenton, Abelard was one of the first thinkers in Europe recognised as “modern” believing that God gave us minds so that by reason we would come to know Him fully. At one point Bernard declares to Abelard ‘God is dead in you!’ to which Abelard responds ‘Humanity is dead in you!’ It’s a startling mirror of today’s destructive Christian/Islamic fundamentalism, sexual inequality and religious intolerance. In short, a classic in the making.