The Sherman Youth Theatre are embarking on a mission of epic proportions in their latest show, Gospel, this June which examines the Gospel of St Matthew and his account of Jesus’ life. This new play, written by acclaimed playwright DJ Britton, takes The Bible as inspiration, in its contemporary re-enactment of the Gospel and will be performed by a cast of young people aged 16-25.In recent weeks the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s international best seller The Da Vinci Code has attracted worldwide controversy for its questioning of The Bible’s authenticity and its negative depiction of the Catholic Church. With the fierce debates generated by the novel firmly in the public conscience, Youth Theatre Director Phil MacKenzie hopes that Gospel will present a neutral, non-judgemental examination of the life of Christ as a piece of modern storytelling: “Incredibly, very few people today actually know the stories written in the Gospels, and what all this fuss has been about in the media recently. People have suddenly become fascinated by questioning who Jesus really was. The young people in the Youth Theatre involved in this production have been really eager to explore these classic stories and the issues surrounding them through this performance.” The cast of Gospel caused quite a stir in Cardiff City Centre on Saturday as they took a street performance into Queen Street. Shoppers watched as the cast walked through the busy shopping street in black cloaks and hoods to the accompaniment of live drumming. Cast member Luther Phillips,18 from Canton explains: “In Gospel, scenes from the Gospel are re-enacted and examined by a masked crowd - no one knows which side they are on. We thought it’d be a great to take a street performance out into Cardiff to promote the show and see what reaction we got.” Gospel shows a tribe of teenagers travelling through the underbelly of contemporary Britain assuming the roles of the characters in the Gospel with CCTV cameras monitoring their every move. Gospel has been written specifically for The Sherman Youth Theatre by DJ Britton and will be on at The Sherman Theatre on 15-17 June. Tickets are £7 (£5 reductions) and can be booked from The Sherman Box Office on 029 2064 6900. |
| Sherman Theatre web site: www.shermantheatre.co.uk |
| Jenny Boyatt e-mail: mo2@shermantheatre.co.uk |
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 |
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