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Gloria's Gift?

 
Alexander Williams Review by Alexander Williams 2 Published: 30 Jul 2024 Old Red Lion Pub Show Dates: 29 Jul 2024-2 Aug 2024

Wouldn’t it be lovely to place the blame for all the world’s current woes, from war and inequity to the threat of the climate crisis, at the feet of an almighty creator? Gloria's Gift? both promises and denies that wish.

Scores of inconsistencies leave the characters and plot too worm-riddled to hold together

The play provides us with a god as human character in the form of brassy, swaggering and irritable deity Gloria, who is more than happy to accept responsibility for our creation. The trouble is she tapped out of human affairs after the momentary amusement of making a whole new species in her image and claims the rest of the world’s ills are very firmly on our own shoulders.

Erica Tavares-Kouassi certainly makes this a believable concept. She is an energetic stage presence, preening with over-confidence even as her intended one-woman show begins to crumble around her.

However there are scores of philosophical and theological inconsistencies in Leona McLoughlin’s script that leave the characters and plot too worm-riddled to hold together. An almighty god character with an enviable vocabulary but who’s stumped by simple words like car (they’re initially metal boxes) and has never heard of Wotsits. A lonely and alienated god who finds it incredibly easy to mount a one-woman show and make an instant connection with the audience. These contradictions wrangle. Certainly this take is more inclusive than many others, with a plethora of religions getting a passing mention, but the references are superficial and ultimately god’s true name of Gloria overtly roots us in a Christian context.

There are moments of genuine surprise (don’t worry, no spoilers here!) and some funny gags that draw a giggle or two but overall Nicky Allpress’s direction felt flat. In short, the god as human trope has been done too many times before (most recently perhaps by Zoe Lyon’s in An Act Of God, but arguably going back to the Christian story itself) not to treat the subject with more rigour and imagination.

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The Blurb:

"In a world where we're all so connected, how can we be more disconnected than we've ever been?"

Gloria's Gift? is an innovative new play, reminding us the importance of human connection in our often lonely world. Gloria is funny, bored and lonely. She also is God. The God. That part isn't a joke. The thing is, she never wanted to be known by that name. Join Gloria as she makes a last-ditch attempt to bring a little more hope to our human lives and cure our world of disconnect.