Looking for a break from the more filthy, vulgar, invective-laced offerings of the fringe? Feel like something, say, divine? Clean? Well, have I got the show for you. Beggar's Belief, billed as a comedy but closer in genre to a teen Christian drama, will fulfill your curiosity to see acts on stage which are not completely depraved. As a bonus you will likely completely purge the desire to see anything else in this genre for the rest of the fringe, indeed, for some time to come. The problem begins with the premise: Why does God let bad things happen? The issue is not the question asked, it is the lack of any reasonable stab at the answer. The narrative broadly concerns the unstaggering plight of a small cadre of friends; Tom and Harry (she's a girl, silly) are platonic but secretly desire each other. Ed is enjoying a conversation with God in his dreams but is confused as to the meaning of it. James is cheating on Helen with Rachel. The group comes together to play a Power-Puff Girls version of Monopoly as the above situations unwind. In one of the 'Why does God let bad things happen' segments, we learn that Harry's mother is in hospital and she wonders why her mother suffers. Tom answers predictably to this class of perplexing questions of fate, i.e. in a completely vague manner. Why her? asks Harry. Everything happens for a reason replies Tom. Another rhetorical bon mots trotted out later goes something like this; how can you judge god based on his ability to do the logically impossible? When Helen confirms her suspicions of James' lustful wanderings, she gets quite upset. That's all really. She just gets quite upset. You're not going to make me more impolite than I've already been she says. In the depraved fringe version she'd chop off his penis and feed it to the hamster. But we aren't watching a depraved fringe version are we? This is the real deal. But wait. Something does happen: James gets knocked down that night. Want to know why? Helen had told him to piss of and die and then assumes that her statement somehow led to his accident. I'd go into the problems with the rest of the episodic plot but it would be like relaying to you moment to moment CCTV footage from Christian camp. But it is astounding in places. Tom announces that after 9/11 and the London bombings there was a huge decrease in the suicide rate. I can only assume he meant that God has a plan for all of us and nothing quite as creepy as it sounds. The problem with this play is that the question that runs through it remains largely unanswered or expanded on or thought about or delved into. When Ed asks urbane Tom what to do about his sudden theophany, Tom suggests that he read the bible and pray. A great setup like this provides enormous opportunity for comedy, character revelation and plot development. But this story line just peters out. With nothing critical at stake, we are left with a luke warm, wheezing story with no discernible context. The work comes across as a loosely strung set of ideas resulting in a passive audience experience. An unreasonable chunk of the play, for instance, is taken up with the Monopoly game with no real progression. Any deep issue is addressed with the kind of irritating, condescending nasality you'd get from a strident, moralizing pastor. The staging is awkward. The Temple theatre at C Cubed has several church pew rows that do not rake. If you're caught in one of these you miss any action below the waist. Not that there was much of anything going on down there, but when the actors sat, only their heads were visible. I do have to say that the audience present appeared to enjoy the show and that there were few walkouts so I will have to submit that there is an audience for this piece and would likely appeal as a play for younger students in a religious school. The playwright does show an ability to capture young voices on stage and future work will likely reflect improvements on plot and character development. But I do think with this work that the audience deserves better in terms of a believable plot and story. For a play centered on a very deep question it deals with its topic in a very trite and loose manner that fails to be compelling or ask questions of its own. The play is appropriately titled 'Beggar's Belief' which means that which is not quite credible. I concur.
