Fragments of the Bible become a well-rounded story: Creation is a celebration of life.

When leaving the theatre after watching Peter Hinton’s rendition of Peter Anderson’s “Creation,” I heard a lady commenting on what she had just seen: ”It’s unbelievable how someone can take a few bits and pieces,” she said “ and make them into a well-rounded story!” This is exactly what Peter Anderson’s play is: fragments of several Old Testament stories from the Bible put together and made into a tale about the creation of the world. Starting from an empty darkness, there was the word, then came light, water, and so on – all the way to humans. God gave life and the chance to live in paradise to everybody and everything.

The biblical myth has it that at the very beginning of creation, there was a war in Heaven. The angel Lucifer rebelled and separated from God. In the process, he led a few angels his way. Of course, God did not like this, so she (in the play God is a woman, masterfully played by Mary-Colin Chisholm) pushed the strayed angel away to a place called Hell. Soon after this, Adam and Eve were created from the Earth and were given the Garden of Eden. Anderson celebrates their creation in a song about naming things. The happiness does not last for long and as for the reason; it is hard to say with certainty that it was Lucifer’s doing alone. Eve herself had set her mind to picking the doomed apple even before his coming to Eden, though he certainly helped her have it!

The apple caused vicious quarrels that led the first earthly couple out of Eden to the valley of tears. God was disappointed in their behaviour, but she will eventually get used to being disappointed in the human race. All the way from Eden, through the terrible fighting between Adam and Eve’s children Cain and Abel, to the tragic flood in the narrative of Noah’s Ark, humans misbehaved, threatening the survival of their own race. Anderson finished the play on an optimistic note – the birth of Isaac who is destined to lead people to a promised land.

The play is a bittersweet and funny-tragic look at us as a race. The whole celestial oligarchy seems to be powerless when confronted with the self-destructiveness of humans. It seems to be, the play suggests, our nature: when in danger we get along well, but when the danger is behind, greed gets the better of us. After escaping the big flood in Noah’s Ark and reaching the safety of land, the quarrels start all over again. When Ass – a funny character in the play – asks God why she did not destroy them all, she cannot answer. As all parents, she loves her children dearly, regardless of the disappointments they might prove to be. The author’s message is clear. He warns us: – you are killing your mother Earth, you are hurting each other, you are turning Heaven into Hell. Still, Isaac’s birth reminds us that he believes that there is a hope.

It is very hard to merge traditional and modern styles in a piece that is a tragedy told in the manner of a musical comedy. Peter Hinton masters it beautifully.

From the very first minute when the actors launch on the usual introduction – to turn off your phones et al. – in the style of the play, the room’s attention was captured. It was not only Hintons’ superb direction, but the effort of the whole cast that made the play a success. The actors took the audience on a journey with great passion, energy and conviction. Special mention goes to Karyn McCallum’s for her very imaginative set and costume design, as well as to Daniel McIlmoyl whose lighting design set the mood for the whole play.

Regardless of religious convictions, the message is simple and meant for everybody alike: celebrate and uphold life, do not destroy it. The audience felt it and rewarded the actors with a long and warm round of applause. “Creation” is one play that no one should miss for its artistic, entertainment and narrative value.

Ottawa, Rajka Stefanovska

February 3, 2012

Creation

NAC English Theatre Company

By Peter Anderson

Directed by Peter Hinton

Music and songs by Allen Cole

Set design by Karyn McCallum

NAC English Theatre Production

Featuring the NAC English Theatre Company:

Mary-Colin Chisholm

Rachelle Casseus

Greg Kramer    Jamie Mac

Joey Tremblay      Kris Joseph

Julie Tamiko Manning

Christian Murray        Randi Helmers

Beverley Wolfe