Writer: Joe Wiltshire Smith
Director: Scott Le Crass
A monkey, a screaming swede, or the face of Jesus? Behold! The Monkey Jesus is a rambunctious comedy and an artful reconstruction of the events that led up to a viral sensation, based (with some embellishments) on true events. Just the right amount of laughter, and God, make this production a success.
Church pews and a makeshift altar transport us back to the small town of Borja, Spain in 1930, where artist Elías García Martínez (Roger Parkins) has just completed his life work, his homo ecce. Nuns of the church disparage the picture of Jesus and Martinez doesn’t live to see his art truly valued for its excellence, and so it remains in the church. Fast forward to 2012, 81-year-old worshipper Cecelia Giménez (Mary Tillet) in the very same church hears her calling (literally hearing the voice of Jesus) to save the painting from the fate of degradation. Thus ensues her botched attempt at art restoration that turns the face of Jesus into, in the eyes of some people, a monkey.
Solid acting performances from the whole cast are aided by Joe Wiltshire Smith’s writing, which impresses with its delightful pace, eliciting genuine laughs. Smith excellently flips between playful dialogue and profound considerations without jarring, and cheap innuendos about ‘fingering frescos’ suddenly becoming endearing.
Mary Tillett as aspiring art restorer Cecelia herself is a standout performer. We are promised a faithful parishioner, but Tillet convinces as a woman who is driven by devotion; devotion to God, devotion to making a better life for her son, a devotion to art and artistry. It would have been easy for Director Scott Le Crass to make Cecelia the fool of this play, but you begin to understand her reasoning, and more importantly, her perspective.
At times the narrative feels sparse, some conversations given unequal weight to others. But despite this, the production manages to pose some interesting questions about art itself, who it belongs to, and what it is for. Poignantly, when the original artist Martinez is told his painting is not the face of ‘our’ Jesus by the nuns, his reply is simply that ‘it is mine’.
In short Behold! The Monkey Jesus is effective as a comedy, an undeniably entertaining ride which poses profound questions about perception, art, and of course, what Jesus actually looked like.
Runs until 8 July 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Undeniably entertaining
