The Book of Mormon – does it live up to the hype?
My husband came home one evening with good news and bad news. The bad news: he’d tried his very hardest to buy tickets for Hamlet at The Barbican, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, but had missed out. The good news: he’d got us tickets for The Book of Mormon instead.
I must say, I had mixed feelings. The latter play, my husband enthusiastically explained, had been written by the creators of South Park (which I hate). But, its fantastic reviews hadn’t evaded my radar and I was aware that The Book of Mormon was supposed to be excellent. Nevertheless, I thought, I would have preferred Hamlet.
The performance date arrived and we scurried from the tube through unpredicted, torrential rain to The Prince of Wales Theatre, Piccadilly. The seats were good. In fact, they were much better than we would have booked for Hamlet, so that was something. The stage was set, the orchestra were warming up (I always love a live orchestra). The curtain lifted.
From the very first act, in fact, from the very first excellently choreographed, whimsically written, cleverly performed introductory song; The Book of Mormon was brilliant. I laughed so much in the first five minutes that I thought the script could surely not sustain its comedy, but it did.
The acting, particularly of the main cast including A.J. Holmes as Arnold Cunningham, was fantastic. With their total dedication to every scene, I could not help but invest in the engaging plotline as the likeable Arnold and Elder Price took their Mormon beliefs and teachings to Uganda.
Now, it is very important to mention that this play is certainly not to all tastes. There is swearing, repeatedly and without shame, including a song almost entirely based around the most hated of all swear words. If cursing makes your toes curl, perhaps give this performance a miss.
There are crude, unsavoury themes, eyebrow raising images, a dash of violence and some might consider the whole script one huge blasphemy, but if you enter the theatre without your sensibilities, there is so much to enjoy.
Without spoiling the plot, I actually left the theatre feeling that the writers had been ultimately sympathetic to Mormonism and religion as a whole. The message to me was that although outsiders (and even insiders) may view numerous fundamentals of religion as based upon half-truths or complete lies, is that actually important? As long as people find the strength, hope and happiness that they need, who cares? If they’re not hurting anyone, let them get on with it.
It could equally be interpreted from this play that religion is essentially ridiculous, tricking people into shaping their existences around farcical untruths. This is how my husband viewed it. It could be that I’m just a little more optimistic!
Whatever the message you take from the play, I now understand that it is entirely deserving of the very high praise that it has gleaned. It was fantastically written and performed, complemented by superb live music and choreography. If you get the opportunity, I’d highly recommend seeing it. In unexpectedly enjoying the play so much, the sting I felt at missing out on Hamlet has since been long forgotten. Almost.
Image: www.broadwaysd.com (20/11/14)
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