Laughing with Satan

One of the challenges within the Christian religion is that the baddie is such an appealing character and through the years writers and artists have had to struggle with how best to portray this dilemma. Even the founder of the Salvation Army was reputed to have first been motivated to organise his religious-inclined brass bands in opposition to the fact that “the devil has the best tunes”.

And so the baddie’s current manifestation in the recently concluded run of “Satan” is no exception. This Satan doesn’t fail to remind us he is the Morning Star. He struts, he swaggers and his often haunting renditions of classical hymns displays his familiarity with the Christian canon. He asks, “Is your life yours? Is the air you breathe yours?” and you sense both his resentment at his lack of power to create and acknowledgement of his loss of status.

Ms. Bewaji’s writing is always a delight and the audience was quick to respond to her witty script. It is also a testament to her deft handling of her material that in a society that sets such store by religious adherence she does not alienate her audience. Instead by skating just within the lines of provocation she allows her audience the freedom to laugh with her characters while recognising their own private acts of complicity.

The play opens with the song “Hallelujah” – a subversive gesture. This is a boldly secular song, which has somehow slipped under the Christian radar and is often heard in religious gatherings and so the stage is set. We first meet our protagonist when he encourages a man to seduce his wife’s best friend, pointing out to the delight of many of the male members of the audience the many failures on the part of the wife that serve to justify the husband’s intentions. Each new suggestion of Satan is met with an echoing reaction by the husband – it is a well rehearsed duet of call and response that eventually persuades.

The rest of the majority of the characters show no surprise to meet Satan and are happy to converse with him as if with an old familiar friend. Perhaps he is? After all, the play seems to allude, it is by incremental and small insidious character failings that we invite greater catastrophes. It is only the young waitress that has the courage to withstand his overtures and it is her rejection of his banality that is the harbinger of the denouement for the other characters.

The direction of the play benefits from a light touch and clever use of minimal staging. The cast are enthusiastic and as an ensemble work together excellently to provide a very enjoyable evening. I look forward though to seeing it in a larger venue than that provided by the intimacy of the temporary stage at Esther’s Revenge at Freedom Park. This Satan deserves a bigger world to roam and devour.

––