SATIRE
Showing @ Hill Street Theatre, Until 29 August @ 20.00
Religion has, and always will be a hopelessly polarised issue. With many opposing factions on the true meaning of ones ‘belief’ or ‘faith’, it seems that no matter if you believe or not, religion will be part of your life some way. Nan Schmid’s new play explores the lives of two conservative, religiously repressed housewives and puts forward the idea that no matter how serious you are about your creed, sin always has a way of sneaking in.
Following the embarrassment of her husband’s masturbation scandal, Paige Marie Hollister soon finds her husband has disappeared. With the help of her tyrannical best friend Cora Ann, Spiritual Councillor Dr. Admore and the ladies of her church, Hollister sets out to find her husband (reluctantly).
Set in the suburbs of mid-America, the cast dance around each other with two-faced, hypocritical comments and at times it seems that their faith becomes a way of competing with one another. Director Jim Anzide captures the idea that although these women follow the word of God, they only do so because they are terrified not to. With loud rumbles of thunder and lightning any time a character thinks about sinning, the Lord soon becomes a force not to be reckoned with. Schmid’s play has great comic elements, successfully capturing the intransigent nature of a Bible thumping community and exposing all the bigotry and counterfeit elements that comes with it. However, as the production progresses it soon sinks into the absurd, with characters coming back from the dead, lethal tuna casseroles and cross-dressing spiritualists, it soon becomes very hard to follow and at times is very predictable. Jawbone of an Ass takes a witty look into the organised religion of American middle-class families, exposing all its in-discrepancies without being blasphemous…well maybe a little.