Erin Shields’ Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary is currently playing at Crow’s theatre in a production directed by Ellen McDougall.  It aims to shed new light on the Gospel stories by seeing them through the eyes of four Mary’s; the mother of Jesus (Michelle Monteith), Mary Magdalene (Sabryn Rock), Lazarus’ sister (Belinda Corpuz) and the mother of James and Joseph (Nancy Palk).  It doesn’t really provide much illumination.

The play takes us through major incidents of Jesus’ life story; the Annunciation, Bethlehem, child Jesus in the temple, the Sermon on the Mount, the raising of Lazarus and a long, long scene in which the Marys prepare the meal for the Last Supper.  There also references to the scourging of Jesus, described, in gruesome detail and apparent relish, by Not-a-Mary (Amaka Umeh) along the way.  The only non-canonical thing I spotted was the Marys fucking the life force back into (a very smelly) Lazarus.  Interpolated into the story is Not-a-Mary whose avatars include the Archangel Gabriel, a shock jock talk show host obsessed with Mary Magdalene’s sex life and Salome who, rather surprisingly, shows up in the kitchen where the Last Supper is being prepared; the dishes for which are represented by jigsaw puzzles of kitschy Catholic art.  Not-a-Mary also functions as a rather intrusive narrator, interlocutor and choir conductor.

So why does it seem dull and predictable?  Probably because of the four Mary’s two are dull, one is predictable and the last is probably delusional.  Mary the mother of J&J is a sort of pushy soccer mom whose sole concern is getting her boys more game time.  Lazarus’ sister doesn’t actually do much at all and the BVM’s story is too well known, even when told from her perspective, to add much.  Which leaves the much maligned Magdalene.  She would have us believe that she’s very much Jesus’ co-conspirator but she functions as one of the Marys whose main activities are cooking, washing clothes, rounding up loaves and fishes etc.  On the crucial evening of the Last Supper she’s in the kitchen, not at the dining table.  She’s probably Jesus’ lover and she has a better grasp of who he is than the others but that’s as far as it goes.  He’s driving the car.  She may be in the passenger seat holding the map but she’s not navigating.  She’s the only character who shows any philosophical depth but since she keeps getting dragged back into preparing bean stew it all feels rather disconnected.

None of this is helped by the language of the script.  It’s a bit all over the place.  At times, when the Marys are speaking together, it seems to want to become like a chorus from Murder in the Cathedral but it stops short.  Most of the time it’s banally conversational with occasional descents into neo-corporate psychobabble. Add to this that pacing is pretty uneven with athletic interventions by Not-a-Mary pretty much at random.  A breakdance version of Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils and various musical interludes just add to the sense of randomness.

Maybe it would work better if the comedic elements were played up more.  Maybe it would work with a little more philosophy and character development.  It certainly needs a more consistent writing style.  As it is it’s really just not very compelling.

Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary runs at Crow’s Theatre until May 3rd.

Photo credits: Dahlia Katz