Written on the Heart at Duchess Theatre

Written on the Heart at Duchess Theatre

29 April, 2012
by: Ricky PS

A history lesson about a book that is by turns energised, dangerous and well, long-winded.

On my Facebook profile, I define my religious views as "Culturally Anglican". (Please, don’t all add me at once.) If you’ve never been to Sunday School, you probably won’t get much out of Written On the Heart. And that’s not despite David Edgar’s "history lesson" writing style but because of it. However, as a lapsed member of the Church of England (is there any other kind?), I chuckled a bit and learnt a fair deal.

In four long but compelling scenes we get an education in the English Church’s authorized bible, the King James version.

First, we watch its Jacobean translators argue over the massive implications of, for instance, describing biblical characters as "very pleasant" rather than "delectable". Next, we jump back to the last night on earth of William Tyndale, played with charming irascibility by Stephen Boxer, as he awaits execution for translating God's word. We’re then treated to a scene of protestant persecution. And finally we return to the naughty priests, with Oliver Ford Davies’ quietly commanding Bishop of Ely gaining inspiration from Tyndale’s ghost.

There are plenty of jokes, no shortage of arguments, and an unpleasantly comic episode in which Paul Chahidi’s awkward scholar bribes Mary Currer’s subtly tough servant to show him her genitals.

But the story is still one of ideas, and Edgar's script never tells us anything less than he can get away with.

The result is a lot of exposition. Luckily, Greg Doran’s direction makes even the long explanations of people, places and liturgical debates feel energised and dangerous, although there were a few slip-ups; one unfortunate bishop was forced to make robotic gestures towards his colleagues as he addressed them by name, in order to remind the audience who was who. That shouldn’t be necessary.

A history lesson about a book, however enjoyable, guarantees a theatre full of upper middle-class white folk. Yet even an elite audience can be talked down to. In the final moments, the future Charles I, then only a boy, asks what the priests do, and they explain the way they debate how much religious power common people should have. But it's us who are being explained to, and we are the children here.

Written on the Heart runs at Duchess Theatre until 21st July. 

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Ricky PS