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The Review - THEATRE by JO HARMAN
Published: 6 March 2008

Bless me father, for my play is a bore...

FAT CHRIST
King's Head Theatre

CHRISTIANS have claimed the latest offering at the King’s Head mocks their saviour and Transport for London has removed all its posters from Tube stations for fear of causing offence, but has the religious furore over Fat Christ blindsided us all to the small issue of good drama?
The plot revolves around pudgy Jack Taylor who, along with his long-suffering wife Lily, has been forced to retreat to the countryside to pay off their debts following the failure of his playwriting ambitions. Fed up with washing windows to earn a living, Jack turns to modern art to boost his income and gets commissioned to paint a recreation of Christ’s crucifixion with a contemporary twist.
The relationship between Jack and his best mate Dick provides the vehicle for much of the play’s Men Behaving Badly pitched humour, though continual genitalia jokes inspired by Dick’s name do wear thin.
Personally, I struggled to like the pair and found myself urging their respective girlfriends (one of whom, Susan, is played by none other than Abi Titmuss, pictured right) to drop them like hot bricks.
On the issue of blasphemy: sure, a man dressed only in pink boxer-shorts stages his own crucifixion in the name of “‘modern art” but the play never attempts to engage in any serious critique of Christianity.
Jennifer Matter’s performance as Lily is a particular stand-out from a strong cast but ultimately a predictable script and limited plot left me looking to the heavens for a little more.
It seems the King’s Head, so often a cathedral to sharp and challenging writing, sometimes moves in mysterious ways.
Until March 23
020 7226 1916

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