Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Faith & Religion

Mary’s Gospel

Mary's GospelI received a flyer in the mail the other day about a new play here in Auckland called “Mary’s Gospel”. With all the buzz about “The Passion of the Christ” this play may have slipped under your radar. “Mary’s Gospel” looks like it has some engaging and challenging issues set in a Kiwi context.

Mary is a mental health consumer. Her cousin, Lizzie is her daily caregiver. Both women are part of the O’Malleys – a large, Irish Catholic family, who control most of the construction business in the Hutt Valley. At 15, Mary had a baby boy… Christie. In the beginning there were no words Only the dark And the cold. Naenae dark, Little Fish, busted – light dark. Breath like marshmallows from Woollies; Powdery, fat. So Mary begins her gospels. The story of her life, for her half-caste son, Christie. Little Fish. As she speaks, Christie responds in the language of dance. This communion is their Gospel truth. This moving, poetic and funny play, presents a view of life from the inside of mental illness, and is the newest work from the pen of Geraldine Brophy.

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Mary’s Gospel is about the Labour of daily love – the humour and hardship that abound when someone you love has a mental illness, the family you’re part of has a moral illness and there is no place between Heaven and Hell.

Booking details at The Edge®: Whats On.