Performance Review

Corpus Christi

On May 23, 1998, the New York Times announced that the Manhattan Theatre Club would be canceling its scheduled production of playwright Terrence McNally's newest play, Corpus Christi, due to bomb and death threats made against the theatre, its personnel, and the playwright. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights disavowed responsibility for the threats but did publicly applaud the decision, calling the play "blasphemous." A week later, after counter-demonstrations by a roster of well-known contemporary playwrights, the play was reinstated at MTC. Although the Catholic League's president had not read the play, reports claiming that it depicted a gay Jesus-like figure who has sex with his apostles was enough to ignite a series of events that captured the attention of New Yorkers, theatre artists and others, perhaps to a greater extent than McNally's play itself.

On opening night, two separate demonstrations took place concurrently on opposite ends of the block outside the theater. Play protesters assembled at one end with placards declaring McNally's play a lie and homosexuality a sin, as well as demanding the play be censored. At the other end of the block, supporters of the play, who were participating in a "silent march" organized by the People for the American Way, carried small white placards with quotes from various notable individuals on the importance of freedom of expression. Hundreds of New York City police officers and dozens of news reporters rounded out the outdoor cast. Throughout the play's run, as a precautionary measure, all audience members passed through a metal detector, and the city stationed a police officer outside the theatre.

Corpus Christi is presumably a reclamation of the story of Christ's life for gay men. Within its meta-theatrical structure, the thirteen male actors assembled onstage to announce their intentions of retelling "an old and familiar story." The actors were then transformed into their characters by the actor playing John, who symbolically baptized each of them. The theatre had been stripped bare to expose its backstage areas and lighting equipment. The actors changed into their costumes--khaki pants, white shirts and bare feet--at the rear of the space, in full view of the audience. Most of the play's action then took place on the large wooden stage in the center of the space, but exposure of the backstage areas meant that the actors remained in view of the audience for most of the performance. [End Page 194]

The story begins with Mary giving birth to Joshua, the Jesus-like figure, in a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. McNally's script is peppered with comic giveaway lines, such as Joseph's sexually frustrated acknowledgment of Mary's virginity. The story follows Joshua as he grows up feeling different from his classmates, although the reasons for his difference are vague: is it because he hears the voice of God speaking to him constantly, or is it because he is gay? As the play progressed, his flustered high school prom date discovered him sharing his first stolen kiss with Judas, played by Josh Lucas. After their kiss the lights faded out and when they came back up the two were leaning against each other in a tired familiar way, fully clothed, smoking cigarettes, implying the two had sex. While Joshua later performed a marriage between two of his disciples, this was the extent of the sexually explicit content that had sparked controversy. Joshua hitchhiked out of Corpus Christi shortly after the prom to begin his predictable journey, perform the expected miracles, and amass a following of young disciples.

Much of what McNally points out--such as the hypocrisy of the Church's persecution of homosexuals in light of Christ's teachings of love and tolerance--is obvious. Parallels that both he and director Joe Mantello make between the persecution of Joshua and contemporary oppressions are hardly original. Of course, the protesters outside the theatre are a poignant reminder that even the obvious oftentimes needs to be restated. However, McNally's script does not come close to the searing critique of such hypocrisy in, for example, the 1989 French-Canadian film, Jesus of Montreal.

What rescued the production were the performances by the thirteen actors and the sometimes evocative direction by Joe Mantello. The ease, compassion and tenderness with which male bodies interacted onstage was rare, and for that, the production is notable. (However, they were all young bodies and, with the exception of James Leung, who played James the Less, all appeared to be white). The interaction of those bodies was certainly erotic, but not gratuitously vulgar as protesters imagined. The characters touched and held one another with tenderness and love, though, perhaps, that was what the protesters imagined and refused to accept. Anson Mount as Joshua captured the character's adolescent naiveté and confusion regarding his own destiny, both of which mature into immense, though not infinite, compassion for others. Joshua is human, [End Page 195] and also exhibited moments of fear and impatience. He did not go unquestioningly to his death: he asked God if the nails would hurt as they pierced his skin and wondered, as he looked over his disciples, if they were worth suffering and dying for.

At the beginning of the performance, one actor declared the play's intention to take its audience somewhere "thrilling." Corpus Christi is ultimately disappointing for its failure to do so and its lack of originality and provocation, making the vehemence of the protests against its content come more sharply into focus as displaced homophobic anxiety. I wished McNally had told a bolder, more interesting story. And yet, there is also something powerful and moving in McNally's intention to reclaim this "old and familiar" story and the sheer presence of these bodies onstage trying to make it their own. In the context of recent debates over decency in artwork, the importance of this staging of Corpus Christi extends beyond the play's literary significance.

Sharon L. Green
CUNY Graduate Center

[an error occurred while processing this directive]