René Grayre
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The Trial of Martin Luther

12/7/2016

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Picture


See it if
You're Lutheran. Or Catholic; it might help sitting through a philosophical discourse disguised as a play about faith vs. religion. 
Don't see it if
You've no interest in discussion plays or religion, expect three-dimensional characters or object to Satan as the most sympathetic character. 


Certainly there's rich material in the trials & actual trial of Martin Luther for an effective drama, Jean Anouilh's Becket or Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons providing fine examples of the genre. 
This play, however, produced by Fellowship for Performing Arts, whose mission is presenting theatre from a Christian worldview, is more discourse than drama. Less about Luther's inner moral or emotional struggles with his actions than it is about the historical worldwide effects of Lutheranism, it also parallels his split from the Church with Lucifer's split with God and his subsequent fall from grace. 
Lucifer of course is the prosecutor in this Trial, wonderfully realized by Paul Scoeffler, who fully inhabits and presents the only 3 dimensional character of the evening with wit and intelligence. Kersti Bryan gives depth & empathy to Luther's wife while Fletcher McTaggart's Luther is unfortunately mostly frowned caricature. Costumes are rich if uneven, the set too cute by half, the lighting & effects overdone.

​Not for the unconverted.

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