Fallen tele-evangelists: they’re so outrageous, how do you out-top their over-the-top? Eulogy doesn’t quite know the answer; the flatness of its send-up is less cartoon than cardboard cut-out.

The set-up for the one-man show has potential: the audience is congregation to preacher Joshua’s eulogy to his late father, the "prophet" Joseph Jones.

But far from being the father-worshipping unreliable narrator described by the show’s well-produced website ( www.sacredprophet.org ), Joshua is a blank character who tells us his father’s story, warts and all, with little emotion. His account is linear, with no subtext, no layers, no possible reading between the lines; he stays completely on the straight and narrow.  [More]
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Eulogy is an original New Zealand play written by Colin Mitchell and Wade Jackson. This one-man show presents a funeral eulogy for Prophet Joseph Jones, given by his son Joshua, who is played by Scott Wills in this premiere production at the Maidment Theatre.

A garish coffin-bearing altar adorns the stage. The game show host-cum-preacher, Joshua, enters and, once the disco lights have subsided, begins the eulogy to his father with the ritual of prayer. Arguably the most engaging moment of the show involves the audience standing up and being told to close our ears and our minds and to send up our thoughtless prayers to the lord.

Evidently, this is the moment in the play that covers off the “groundbreaking techniques which have never been used in a theatrical production before; social compliance, hypnosis, mass-suggestion and psychological manipulation – to make the show a truly religious experience” which are promised in the flyer.

Joshua’s deferential portrayal of his father describes a man who started out his life being expelled from school for blinding a classmate; who carried on to become a crystal meth and prostitute-addict, a closet homosexual and kiddy-fiddler. He went from ‘working with the poor… troubled young men’ of the world to joining the local church and becoming a world-renowned, affluent tele-evangalist, where he could touch people in private ways.

The play goes on to tell the tale of The Prophet’s incrimination, his steady demise and decade of imprisonment, which is followed by an assessment of assets; a loose metaphor for the indictment, exposé and slow death of the church. The Prophet represents the church one minute and God the next, with Joshua – the immaculate conception – driving at the fact that he is clearly the son of God.

With so much recent exposure of anti-religious discussion, debate and literature, I expected this play to comment on or engage with ideas of religion’s place in contemporary society and culture. The play does not problematise or play out these issues in any depth. It pulls the piss, but not in the way that author Christopher Hitchens pulls the piss. Rather, in the way that Father Jack [the mad old coot from Father Ted] does.

The comedic writing rests largely on double-entendres and plays on words, some of which have the desired effect on the audience. The best instance of this is the reading, or clever ‘mis-reading’, of a letter from The Prophet’s ex-wife: Joshua reads the letter aloud as a loving expression of grief, bemoaning the loss of someone so important and moral. The projector at the back of the stage shows the real letter, which reads very differently if the correct punctuation is employed.
This extends the end-of-the-church metaphor; playing with the idea that anti-religious messages (or the truth) are somehow not getting the voicing / lighting they should, perhaps? That they cannot penetrate the filter of government? Media? Society? That it’s all the editor’s fault? The lighting guy? (Brad Gledhill incidentally.) The preacher?

Wills does give it stick in his portrayal… but I was after a carrot. Then, that may be a question of taste. There was certainly energy, commitment and smug delivery of the script, so fans of this New Zealand screen talent should enjoy the close-up and personal evening with Wills’ Joshua. If you’re a fan of Richard Dawkins and are looking for a witty, insightful debate about religion, you won’t.
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