The Fresh Ink
Theatre is one of the few companies in town dedicated to presenting new work by
local playwrights. Moreover, Fresh Ink delivers topnotch production values so
that a play like Patrick Gabridge’s FIRE ON EARTH (playing through Feb. 16th)
is significantly enhanced by a stunning production.
Director Rebecca
Bradshaw literally takes a page from Gabridge’s script when contraband copies
of the Bible are disseminated to the British population against the edict of
the church: Books fly from all corners and heights of the theater to land on
stage like a hail storm. It’s a dazzling gesture which equals the impact
William Tyndale’s translation had on 16th century England.
Translating
Latin, Greek and Hebrew texts into English meant that anyone, not just the
learned clergy, could read and interpret the Bible. This, you might say, put
the fear of God into the Catholic Church. If common folk could commune directly
with God, there would be no need for an intermediary. Torture and fire were the
Church’s weapons, burning Bibles and people as fast as they could apprehend
them.
Gabridge makes
Tyndale (Bob Mussett) the fulcrum of his play to illustrate the religious and
political ramifications of such a revolutionary literary achievement. We
witness the Abu Ghraib of its day, run by a nasty Bishop (Brett Milanowski),
who tortures Tyndale’s associates in a desperate attempt to stop the
unstoppable.
We watch Tyndale
painstakingly pour over word choices and constantly flee from pillar to post to
avoid the authorities. (The History Channel featured a program on “secret
societies” last month, including the Protestants who hid Tyndale and ensured
the printing of his Bible.) In FIRE ON EARTH, Omar Robinson has the plum role
of Tyndale’s printer/friend, Tewkesbury. He’s
courageous. He’s angry. He’s hilarious. (Gabridge adopts the “Deadwood” trend
in FIRE ON EARTH of speech peppered with invective --which I found highly
entertaining.)
But Gabridge
stops short of Tyndale’s demise and the dismantling of the church by Henry the
Eighth, why I’m not sure. It would have been quite rewarding to see those
bishops (Milanowski and Scot Colford) get their comeuppance. Instead Gabridge
focuses on the drudgery of the work and the martyrdom of the associates (James
Fay and Robinson) who sacrificed everything for the cause. End of play.
Ironically, history
tells us that when King Henry read Tyndale’s treatise on Christian devotion, he
had his rationale to break with the Roman Catholic Church and more importantly
for him, to get a divorce. Alas, Tyndale had already been strangled and burned
at the stake. Just two years later, his translation was sanctioned as the
official Bible of the new Church of England! Why not a coda to tell audiences
what happened?