"A Jesuit Off-Broadway" by Fr. James Martin s.j.

This book sounds like it could be an interesting read. Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin s.j. got to work with a New York theatre company as a theological consultant and guide to help them prepare for a performance of "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot", directed by well-regarded actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (a favourite of Brit film critic Mark Kermode).

Here's the blurb from a YouTube video clip:

"A Jesuit Off-Broadway recounts Fr. James Martin's thrilling six months with the LAByrinth Theater Company, as it created and performed The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, which had a sold-out five-week run in New York. As the occasionally profane and worldly playwright, director, and actors struggled to understand theological issues and ideas, they strove to convey them in an artistically convincing way to a largely secular audience. Through it all, Martin learned lessons about theater and life, about how the sacred and the secular aren't always that far apart, and how questions often tell us more than answers do."

Go here for the clip (they've turned off the ability to embed the clip).

One of the actors that Fr. Martin got to work with (and who you see in the above mentioned clip) was Sam Rockwell who is one of my favourite actors of his (and my) generation. See his stunning turn as a charismatically demonic - is that a contradiction? - prisoner in The Green Mile and his subtle supporting role as the brother of the "coward" Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) in "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford", one of my favourite films of the past year which I am looking forward to seeing again on dvd.

Here is a clip with Fr. James recounting some of his experiences whilst working with the troupe:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

District 9 - a sci-fi anti-apartheid allegory and the first handheld camera masterpiece?

God You don't need me, but somehow You want me - Tenth Avenue North, “Control”

Transcendent God