Posted Thursday 10 April 2008
Three churches collaborated along with other locals to stage The Southside Passion in Holy Week. Paul Hibbert reports on the new production which also marked the centenary of St Margaret’s Newlands.
‘This crowd’s flush, they’ve got deep pockets. The only trouble is they’ve got short arms.’ So said the temple trader at the start of the second act of The Southside Passion.
However, the audiences proved him wrong, as the ticket sales, sponsorship and audience contributions raised a tremendous sum for the work of the Lodging House Mission.
We certainly got our money’s worth. The cast and crew worked together seamlessly to show us our most cherished story in a new work of art. Familiar truths were arranged in new, thought-provoking ways. By bringing the story to recent times it was suddenly shocking again.
The play owed much to Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross’s original idea and personal drive. But it was also a tremendous piece of teamwork, produced to a professional standard.
Even the transformation of St Margaret’s into a theatre was astonishingly complete. One visitor was convinced that the stage and lighting were permanent fixtures!
If the conversion of the space was astonishing, so was the way in which our friends rose to the challenge of performing a play covering most of Jesus’ life. The actors were energised and uplifted, and spoke from the heart. How wonderful it was to see such depths in the quiet, reserved people that we knew well, and be surprised and moved by new friends.
Of course, the children were wonderful. As they danced at Cana and welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem, we saw a joy that was released, not acted.
But, as one would expect in a passion play, there was also much sadness and the actors gave of their all in the heart-wrenching scenes. How deeply we felt Peter’s anger and frustration; how closely we shared in Jesus’ agony in the garden; and how we wept with Mary, on the way of the cross.
Above all, the down-to-earth, loving and beloved Jesus was just right. I will never forget his question, almost at the end of the play: “What were you expecting – someone grander?”
In addition to the excellence on stage, the choir and musicians added further depth and energy to the production, richly complementing the emotional tone of each scene. They also sang familiar and new tunes so powerfully and so well that they touched our hearts by themselves.
But, as the play powerfully reminded us when we witnessed the disciples squabbling, it is wrong to worry about who is the greatest. Is it the visionaries, writers and gifted performers? Or is it the stalwarts managing in the wings, at the doors and in the kitchens? Or is it (to speak in parables) the gardener who can only stand in the background, while onlookers admire the orchids blooming in the soil he has tilled?
No, no-one stands above another – this was a breathtaking moment in the life of a number of Christian communities united by love and moved by the same Spirit.
In the end, it is the message that is triumphant and, for me, the most moving part was the conclusion. I’m sure none of the audience will ever forget how the bread was passed into our hands by the disciples, and the drama enacted for us Sunday by Sunday came to be shown to us on the road to Emmaus.
Neither will we forget the closing words, addressed to all who come to know Christ’s passion: ‘We have to share this… with everybody.’
Staged in St Margaret’s for two nights, The Southside Passion was based on Mark’s Gospel. It was a collaborative production with Eastwood Parish Church (CoS) and St Mary’s Pollokshaws (RC).
Category: Action Group for Spirituality, Ecumenical Relations Action Network
