The beauty of the Edinburgh Fringe and its uncurated philo- sophy is that it provides a useful annual barometer of the nation’s obsessions. And this year, unsurprisingly, the nation is obsessed with God. There are a record-breaking 50 shows about religion or with religion as a theme on the Fringe next month, mainly covering the big three — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — although, for some reason, Zoroastrianism gets a quiet nod here and there. Most of these shows are so cynical about faith that you’d almost think people were fed up with years of endless slaughter in the name of supposedly merciful gods.
Of course, that list of 50 includes RP Theatre Company’s performance of Godspell and a devised piece called We Don’t Know Shi’ite, so it’s not always wise to rely on numbers. The barometer part of the list, however, includes a Danish Islamic comedian debating the recent Muhammad cartoon scandal, a speculative show about Jesus being arrested at US immigration and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay, plenty of spoof evangelists and a farce about Afghanistan’s Jewish community under the Taliban.
Perhaps the most interesting group of performers is the stand-up comics. Comedy and religion have had an uneasy relation-ship over the past two years. Stewart Lee’s Jerry Springer: The Opera incited Christian wrath, and the recently passed Racial and Religious Hatred Act prompted even Rowan Atkinson to speak out, concerned that satire would become a criminal offence. Since the bill received royal assent in February, there has been a sense in the comedy community that some stand-ups are tackling faith as a barefaced challenge to the act: “Come and get me, copper,” as the comedian Glenn Wool says.
Wool’s show, You Don’t Go to Hell for Eating Elephants, is loosely based on his spiritual search for the site of the eternal inferno. Along the way, he manages to step on the conceptual toes of almost every faith’s view of damnation. “Put it this way,” he says. “If, when I die, I hear a voice — I’m in trouble.” His theme was prompted by “the end-less destruction of the world’s public transport systems in the name of God”, although he’s actually hoping the blasphemy laws will ultimately damage all religions. “Islam, Judaism and Christianity say you have to go out and kill gay people,” he argues. “Now, take Apollo. Right there you’ve got a god who’s bisexual, if not gay. So those other faiths are actually saying you should kill another guy’s god. I reckon that bans them under those laws, doesn’t it?” The gay comedian Jason Wood’s show, My Anus Horribilis, also deals with faith and sexuality. “I’ve watched over the past year or so as the Christian right has launched endless attacks against homosexuality,” he explains. “They’re pushing the country backwards, and I wanted to point that out. It’s insane when they’re quoting Leviticus to outlaw gay sex, yet most people, who have never read the Bible, won’t know that book also threatens punishment for people who wear shirts of mixed fibre.” The highlight of Wood’s fightback is a reworking of the Lord’s Prayer, although it’s hard to argue that it’s promoting hatred.
Islam also gets a working-over. Shappi Khorsandi’s show, Asylum Speaker, recounts her family’s hardship after her father was sentenced to death by the ayatollahs for criticising them in print. “They said he was attacking Islam,” she explains, “but he replied, ‘No, I’m attacking you.’” Sheltered by Scotland Yard, which foiled a few attempts on her father’s life, Khorsandi has been amazed by the reactions she has had post-9/11, even from friends who have known her for years, and that feeling works its way into the show. “I’m not attacking people’s beliefs,” she explains, “but I am attacking governments that use religion.”
The show includes a nice riff on the imposition of Islam on Iran. “I mean, we’re in the middle of the desert,” she says. “The last thing we need is a faith that covers us from head to toe. Islam is really designed for a cooler climate. Why couldn’t we have been invaded by Hindus or Buddhists, so we had a nice summer wardrobe?” Khorsandi includes the Danish cartoon scandal in her show, seeing echoes of her father’s story, but the Danish-Egyptian comedian Omar Marzouk uses it as a centrepiece. He supported the religious-hatred bill on stage at last year’s festival, but the cartoon furore changed his mind. “The problem is, you can’t legislate for people’s stupidity,” he says. “So the only thing to do is to allow everyone to say whatever it is they want.”
If that all sounds too well reasoned, it will come as some relief to find that Jerry Sadowitz is returning to the Fringe this year.
Sadowitz was, of course, at the forefront of this debate as long ago as 1989, when his show included a vivid description of how he personally killed Jesus. He’s coming back to Edinburgh with a show called Equal Opportunities Offender, which should give churches, mosques and temples reason enough to mount a multifaith 24-hour prayer vigil for the full month, although he’s actually in town only for the Fringe’s final week.
Indeed, with a new act behind them and a fair head of steam post-Springer, this summer ought to provide a welcome opportunity for religious rabble-rousers everywhere — but with performances spread across 27 venues, it will take either a large or an extremely nimble protest group to cover the lot. Disappointingly for fans of extreme street theatre, Christian Voice’s director, Stephen Green — who claims to have led the protests against Jerry Springer: The Opera — looks unable to attend, despite the presence of shows such as Sister Mary McArthur: Celebrity Nun. “We’re not rent-a-demo,” he grumbled when I phoned him, in the face of all evidence to the contrary.
Fortunately, the Scottish Christian party may be stepping into the breach. Its leader, the Reverend George Hargreaves — who also claims to have led the protests against Jerry Springer: The Opera — is hovering over the festival like a cloud of protesting Christian bees. “There’s little point us picketing the shows that are just using religion to boost their audience,” he says. “If there are more people outside the show protesting than are inside watching, it’s a waste of time. Jerry Springer proved the greatest rallying point for Christian activism in the past 10 years because it was a commercial success to begin with, so it’s in that area we would concentrate our efforts.” In other words, it’s the successful shows that need to watch out.
The question is: which will succeed? Will it be the spoof Christian folk act God’s Pottery? Will it be the Catholic-abuse play Breaking the Pope? Mary and the Stripper, about Ms Magdalene’s dubious past? Or the sketch troupe StageCoach’s Black Jew Dialogues? It makes the whole festival just that little bit more interesting, doesn’t it? Just think, if you and all your mates get together and go to a show, it will be a hit and might be the first thing banned under the new act. How often do you make legal history by buying a Fringe ticket?
Omar Marzouk, Jason Wood and Shappi Khorsandi are at the Pleasance, Glenn Wool is at the Tron and Jerry Sadowitz is at the Assembly Rooms; details and tickets on 0131 226 0000, www.edfringe.com
