THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE (STORY TELLING)

How often do you get a chance of watching a theatre about the gospel in a Malaysian theatre? This would be a first.

I had thoughts of watching this play. It reminded me of the play that I had watched previously at Acts church where David Sambora did a one man theatre show of King David. When the oppurtunity came to watch it at Actors Studio Bangsar at a discounted rate (RM18.50 instead of RM37), I could not resist the invite. Together with Terry, we went on a journey to the past as Bruce Kuhn recited the story in the Gospel of Luke in the King James Version. Impressive to be able to do that alone with the King James version. Imagine doing a solo theatre performance of Shakespeare in the Old English.

The story that was foretold were not entirely from the book of Luke. Not all the stories that were mentioned were told in this one and half hour play. In order to do that, it would be more time consuming and I believe that not everyone sitted in the hall are able to go through it. Everything about the play was simple. Minimal props of just a bench and a half body column was all there was on the stage. Light ended to the effect of the play as the colours depicted different scenarios in the play. The characters in the book of Luke was differentiated by the varied intonation of voice. The intensity of the play was further enhance by the varied speech technique going from an accelerated pace to give a more tense moment to a suttle soft voice that depicted peace.

Overall the show was good though at times I do admit my thoughts were strayed away. It didnt capture my attention to the fullest which I believe is due to the fact that it was not as entertaining. One of the audience even commented that he almost slept due to a tiring day at work. However, it was rather interesting to note that there was Q&A session after the show where curious audience asked various question about the show.

It was nice to be back at Actors Studio. The feeling of being near to the stage where the actors presented their story is simply amazing. I wish at times I was on the stage but that time have yet to come to past.