Dip Me In Chocolate...

Yesterday evening we took a trip into Oxford to see Jerry Springer The Opera. We saw this a while ago when it was controversially shown on BBC2 and was impressed with its wit, humanity, high quality music, top notch cast and utter disrespect for taboos. The controversy is quieter now, but has not gone away: as we approached we were handed leaflets by the small group of Christian Voice protesters.

The leaflet argued that the show is blasphemous and a vehicle for the writer's "unreasoning hatred of Christianity", going into some detail about the perceived evils of the production before going on to be more positive about the Christian message. The author of the leaflet says that he has seen the show ("and rather wishes he hadn't"), and I don't doubt that to be true, but what I saw didn't strike me as an unreasoning attack on Christianity. I saw some quite intelligent debate on morality and society wrapped up in so many cuss words that you have to either walk out or laugh. It just so happened that the Judeo-Christian stories form much of the cultural background for the writer and most of the intended audience, so made an appropriate setting for the show. Unfortunately in taking such an uncompromising view, the writer created something that would certainly offend many people. Of course, there has never been any secret about this and those who watch and are offended can't say they didn't know what they were in for.

A few miscellaneous points...

• There is a f*** of a lot of swearing.
• Critics of the show say that Jesus is portrayed as a man in a nappy. This is not accurate — he wears a loincloth much as depicted in most images of the crucifixion.
• There are some "cheap shot" gags at the expense of Jesus: "Talk to the stigmata", "Grow up and put some clothes on!", etc...
• The show shows Jerry largely as shallow, self-important and with more concern for his own career than his "victims" (despite protestations to the contrary), but JS has seen the show and has given it his blessing.
• The swearing really is relentless.
• In the midst of the nastiness there is some real humanity and some beautifully drawn, sympathetic characters. The wife of the man who wants to be a baby is one great example. The woman who wants to break out of her trailer trash lifestyle and "just dance" is another, a fine example of true beauty amidst the freak show.
• The descent into hell and the theme of an attempted reconciliation between heaven and hell (which is obviously doomed to fail) is truly epic stuff.
• The music is pretty much all great, and ranges across so many styles. You just don't necessarily want the kids singing those catchy tunes.
• The fact that the entire second half appears to occur within the fevered imagination of a dieing man says quite a lot about the character of that man.
• And finally, how can anyone fully hate a show which has the Ku Klux Klan doing a camp tap dance routine?

Love it or hate it, I reckon this is good art. It made me laugh and think, and that can't be all bad.