The Archdiocese of Glasgow Arts Project (AGAP) was founded in 2006 to engage people of all backgrounds through faith-inspired arts events and activities often through dramatic productions. This year’s contribution to the Fringe is Gaudí: God’s Architect at C Arts Aurora.
Sincere storytelling
A deeply religious man, variously seen as a genius, a madman or a saint, Gaudí met an undignified death at the age of 73 in 1926. While taking his daily walk to the church of Sant Felip Neri for prayer and confession he was struck by a number 30 tram. As usual he was dressed in his ragged old clothes and was asking people for money to provide funds for the construction of his most famous work, the Sagrada Familia. Those who witnessed the event assumed he was a beggar. Unconscious, he was eventually taken to the Santa Creu Hospital, but received only basic care. It was not until the following day that his identity was revealed, by which time he had gone into terminal decline. Two days later some 5000 people lines the streets of Barcelona for his funeral.
AGAP’s multi-media play opens with this event accompanied by black and white period footage of a tram and related sounds. The classic flashback is then used to tell the story of his life chronologically, before ending with the same scene. It makes for a neatly packaged if predictable play.
The cast features writer/director Stephen Callaghan, Jacqueline Glencorse and Russell Wheeler, They take on multiple roles and are appropriately dressed in period costumes, the men’s waistcoats being in the same dazzling harlequin cheques as the tiered boxes that form much of the set.
Gaudí: God’s Architect features sincere storytelling and if the subject is of interest the play provides a straightforward biography of the man.
