Review: JEEZUS!, New Diorama Theatre

Photo credit: Alex Brenner

There is a particular brand of theatrical alchemy that occurs in JEEZUS! whereby one forgets the sombre, dusty pews of Sunday School immediately. In JEEZUS!, the Messiah hasn’t just returned, he has arrived in 1990s Peru with a sharp tongue and a phallic crucifix.

This is a production that manages to be simultaneously a blistering critique of ecclesiastical heteronormativity and a riotous night out that feels like being slapped across the face with a papal slipper. It is, quite frankly, heaven-sent.

Sergio Antonio Maggiolo and Guido Garcia Lueches give scintillating performances that balance messianic gravity with calculated farce. Together, they wrote the music and lyrics for this show, with the lyrics in particular being dense with impressive pious (or impious) tropes. Laura Killeen’s direction of this piece, which she co-created, is highly specific and it is the detail that makes this piece sing.

Intellectually, the script is a high-wire act. It dances between post-structuralist theory and the kind of wit you find at 3am at an afters. It asks why we sacrifice our authentic selves at the altar of social palatability. It’s heavy stuff, but it’s served with a side of such delicious camp that you barely notice the intellectual bruising until the deserved standing ovation takes one out of one’s seat.

The production manages to find the 'liminal space' between a Sunday Service and a circuit party, proving that the greatest miracle of all is staying in key during a three-part harmony (with the brilliant Musical Director Tom Cagnoni) while undergoing a crisis of faith.

Is JEEZUS! blasphemous? Certainly. Is it essential? Absolutely.

For those of us who grew up in the shadow of the steeple feeling like we didn't belong, this show is a reclamation of the sacred. If you’re looking for a quiet night of traditional liturgy, go to St. Paul’s. If you want to see the gospel rewritten with a sharp eyeliner wing and a heart of pure gold, get down to the New Diorama.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Jeff Mostyn

JEEZUS! plays at London’s New Diorama Theatre until 9 May, with further info here.