Paul (NHB Modern Plays)

Howard Brenton

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781780015019
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

An irreverent and provocative drama questioning the basis of Christianity, by the author of The Romans in Britain.

The most famous conversion in history - when Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus - was a trick. It was actually Jesus appearing to him. Jesus did not die on the cross but was rescued and sheltered by his brother James, by Peter and by Peter's wife, Mary Magdalene. But they prefer to keep Paul in the dark because, although he is mistakenly preaching that Christ rose again, at least it keeps him busy and gets the Christian message out there...

Now imprisoned by Nero, Peter finally tells Paul the truth before they go to their deaths as the first Christian Martyrs.

'Powerful and thrilling... The beauty, compassion and sense of mystery in Paul's words sends shivers down the spine'- Daily Telegraph

'An exciting play that explores big issues'- Guardian

Scene One

Rome, AD 65. Prison. PAUL, aged 54, is in chains. He prays.

PAUL. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen Jesus . . .

A beat.

No! I must not! Must not! No! In Rome, here in this prison? What do I want, my God to come through the wall and rescue me? No, no!

A beat.

Christ is risen. Christ is risen Jesus show me your face again. No no no no, out of the question to pray for that! Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen Jesus, oh my risen Lord, now, tonight, before I die for you, let me see your face once more . . . no, no.

A beat.

Be content with the memory. Yes. I had the revelation of my life. I saw you, thirty years ago, on the road to Damascus.

He stands, free of his chains. He turns and walks into . . .

Scene Two

The road to Damascus, AD 36. Night beneath moon and stars. SAUL, aged 25, is camped with BARNABAS – a captain of the Jerusalem Temple Guards – and four of his MEN. A fire.

SAUL. Eat, sleep. We’ll wake and move on before dawn. I want us at the city gates by sunrise.

The four GUARDS slope off, not looking at him.

(To BARNABAS.) What’s the matter with them?

BARNABAS. They don’t want to go to Damascus.

SAUL. Why not? They’ve arrested heretics in the past.

BARNABAS. But this time it’s out of Judea.

SAUL smiles.

SAUL. When have we Jews been frightened of a raid into a foreign country?

BARNABAS. That’s not it.

SAUL. No? So what . . .

BARNABAS. The work begins to sicken them.

SAUL. But it’s God’s work!

BARNABAS. They’re not brutes! They’re Temple Guards, simple religious men. Sometimes you’re just too . . .

SAUL. Too what?

BARNABAS. Too . . . fierce.

SAUL. We are doing this to save our religion and our country. Surely they . . .

SAUL stops, turns, as if startled by something.

BARNABAS starts, concerned.

BARNABAS. Saul?

SAUL (sharp). Yes?

BARNABAS. What is it?

A beat.

SAUL. Nothing. I’ll speak to them.

SAUL goes to the GUARDS. They are uneasy. BARNABAS follows.

Listen.

A beat.

Listen, I know how you struggle with this work. I know how hard it is for you to arrest men and women at night, drag them from their houses to the religious court, stand by when they are stoned to death in the execution pits, with a crowd screaming as if it were sport, not a terrible necessity sanctioned by God’s law. I stood by, holding men’s coats. They were stoning a young man called Stephen. With his last breath he shouted that he would be in Paradise. His fanaticism shocked me to the marrow of my bones. Belief that strong could destroy the Temple itself. So I decided I must do this thing. But I know it’s not easy. It can eat into the heart, bring bad dreams, yes?

He has touched them. They shift uneasily, hanging on every word.

1ST GUARD. What gets to you, is the atrocities. What the Yeshua people do. Eat the flesh . . .

2ND GUARD. Drink the blood . . .

3RD GUARD. Drink the blood, eat the flesh of helpless little children.

1ST GUARD. You’re right, Rabbi. The bad dreams are from having to be anywhere near these people.

4TH GUARD. They’re Jews like us, but what they do, it’s obscene!

BARNABAS. On the other hand, every new cult that appears is accused of eating babies.

SAUL. Yes, Barnabas. These atrocities are useful stories to the Temple, but not true. But listen, listen, we must do this work: these are dangerous times. We Jews have lived under empires over the centuries: Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Greece, now Rome . . . and we have endured. But under this occupation, under Rome, our religion itself is under attack. But where does the attack come from? Not from pagan, kiddam priests from Rome. From ourselves. Our country is torn apart by fanatics. In the cities different sects at each others throats, in the countryside whole villages gone heretical, ragged preachers on the roads with their begging bowls; Judea seethes with religious revolt. And Yeshua’s not the first fanatic from Nazareth the kiddam have crucified. That particular rural slum does seem to be overrun with religious madmen.

2ND GUARD. They grow Messiahs in the fields.

3RD GUARD. The only crop: religious lunatics.

SAUL. Or it’s just something in the water.

Amusement.

4TH GUARD. The back-from-the-dead magic is new, though.

2ND GUARD. Walking down off a cross? Yeah, some magic trick.

The 1ST GUARD is not amused.

1ST GUARD. But blasphemous. The dead will not rise.

SAUL. Oh I believe they will.

1ST GUARD. Rabbi Saul, with respect, that’s because your family are Pharisees. Mine are Sadducees, for us we were made of mud and to mud we will return. The religion of Moses is for the living.

SAUL. You’re wrong, you’re wrong, but that doesn’t divide us. Yes, we Pharisees do believe that when God ends the world, the dead will rise again. But not just one man! Who is, magically, the son of God! That is chaff, the flimflam of overheated minds. And it’s not that insane doctrine that makes the Yeshua cult so dangerous to us and to our country.

1ST GUARD. The Kingdom of God is the danger.

SAUL. Yes yes, you understand: the Yeshua people call for ‘the Ki...