Christian, David and Paul

[Spoiler warning to anyone that might be watching the play]

The reason why I generally hate watching or reading true stories and biographies is that I end up spending a lot of time wondering how much of it was truly true.

To me, fiction is king. I say never let truth get in the way of a good story. And anyone who thinks that truth is stranger than fiction probably just doesn’t have a very good imagination.

Tonight I was at the newly renovated Belvoir Street Theatre with my friend David to watch Paul.

Paul, being the name of the play.

David and I are high school buddies and we are both Catholics.

David is an openly gay Catholic.

I am an openly absurdist Catholic.

Neither of us are meant to exist.

But whatever.

To those unfamiliar with the Biblical story, Saul was on a mission to Damascus to weed out (and kill) Christians when he got blinded by God and was converted to the Christian cause, and even changed his name to Paul.

From there, he teamed up with Peter (Jesus’ original disciple) to spread the good word around the area to any non-believers they could find.

It’s kinda like he was a religious super hero and that was his origin story.

He is most famous for this quote (and what a beautiful quote it is):

If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fulness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

Paul and Peter are widely regarded as the ones responsible for the birth of Christianity.

This play is the conspiracy theorist’s account of that birth, and watching it was interesting in that it was an uncomfortable, yet enjoyable, experience. The set was modernised to reflect today’s middle east (about the only humdrum part of the play. I mean, come on… the whole ‘middle east hasn’t changed in 2000 years’ thing is so overdone). The cast was brilliant, with Peter being the standout in my opinion. Paul is portrayed as a religious nut who shows enough flashes of wisdom of presence to make you sit up and listen.

The story plays out cleverly. It starts out conventionally and slowly starts revealing ‘what actually happened’ and ends with a kind of ‘so what if it’s all lies as long as they’re beautiful lies?’ Not until the very end do you really get to know how far the playwright is going to push it (and it's pretty far). But it's done with a kind of tenderness that I found admirable.

The reveal is wonderfully done because the start sucks you into the Christianity story before it systematically rips apart the stitchings. The first act ends with the now-popular (thaaaanks Dan Brown) revelation that Mary Magdalene was Jesus’ wife, to several gasps from the audience.

And that was another enjoyable part of the play – watching the audience. They were so animated. You can see the atheists scoffing a lot in the beginning and then having sighs of relief in the second half as the revelations come out.

Actually, pretty much the entire play’s success comes from the audience's constant struggle between what you already think to be true and what you’re afraid is coming next to ruin those beliefs. By the end, there’s little doubt that it’s an atheist’s point of view. But that’s OK by me. I enjoyed it. I was gripped the entire way.

If you’re an atheist and you enjoyed it, you’d probably sum up the play with ‘don’t let truth get in the way of a good story’. And if you’re a believer and you enjoyed it, you’d probably also sum it up with ‘don’t let truth get in the way of a good story’.

Except they would mean two very different things.