"Heresy" written and performed by Anthony Lawton
A 5-year-old boy swings his lunch box at his friend with the force of a weapon. Decades later, he is still horrified by what he did and wonders why he did such a cruel and violent thing.
That 5-year-old was Anthony Lawton, author and performer of the autobiographical, one-man show “Heresy.” (Mirror Theatre Company, Lantern Theater, 10th and Ludlow Sts., September 4-6 at 8pm.) If you think there’s lots of talk about God and religion in this play, well---you’re right. But this is a hilarious, brutally honest, insightful, clever, engaging, edgy, terrifying look at one person’s struggle to understand God, good, evil, order, chaos, and how to get along with and fit in with the other humans, especially women. And, it attempts to answer the question: Can you be a Christian and not believe that Jesus was the Son of God?
With cleverly chosen photos projected on a large screen above and behind him and minimal, well-chosen props—like the plaid lunch box that becomes a weapon, Lawton creates the universe of his journey from the jealous kindergartner swinging that lunch box to the class clown who liked to make people laugh to the beginnings of his search for answers about God, good and evil in the works of C.S. Lewis to his days as a football player, his sexual awakening, his discovery of the ‘science of God’ at Notre Dame University, his disappointment with charitable work vaccinating dogs and cats against rabies in Ecuador, his catastrophic failures with the women in his life, his success as an actor, playwright, and interpreter of C.S.Lewis’s works, and his eventual loss of faith and thoughts of suicide.
Lawton knows his craft as a playwright and he is a formidable talent as an actor. He makes every word, gesture and incident rich and potent as he guides the audience through his passionate, intense, sharply comic, vividly painful and ultimately hopeful journey. Lawton is such a consummate artist that the play is entertaining and draws you in even at its darkest moments.
“Heresy” is a work in progress, even the title is a ‘working title’. After the performance, Lawton held a talk-back with the audience. He wanted to hear their take on how the themes of the play come across and if the events and people he so vividly brings to life work well expressing the struggles fought and insights gained thus far in his journey.
You don’t have to be Catholic or even Christian to love this play—just human. Anyone who has struggled with anything at all about finding their place in this world and making some sense of things will be moved and gloriously entertained by “Heresy”. This premiere, with Lawton’s masterful performance, is an event not to be missed.
WARNING: This show is unsuitable for persons under the age of 17: contains profanity, detailed descriptions of sex, and passages that some may consider to be blasphemous.
For more information: “Heresy”, Mirror Theatre Company, Lantern Theater, 10th and Ludlow Streets, September 4-6 at 8pm. Tickets: $15.00. Running time: 1.5 hours. www.livearts-fringe.org
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