Writer: Justin Butcher
Director: Guy Masterson
The Devil’s Passion or Easter in Hell is a one-man show where Justin Butcher plays Satan, who is catching his minions up with the events of the New Testament. The audience are the minions.
The Devil appears as a politician at a podium, laying out his justification for war, using many of the phrases adopted by the ‘coalition of the willing’ during the Iraq War. He describes the various demons as “warriors for freedom” who “man the defences of society” against the “tyranny of mindless orthodoxy.” He describes God as an “antiseptic deity” who wishes to crush the individualism, freedom and creativity of the human race. He explains that the forces of Hell are on a special mission, to capture and kill Y’shua Bar-Yessuf AKA Jesus. This mission is framed like the raid on Osama’s compound.
Most of the play is concerned with explaining the situation so far. There are recreations of key scenes of Jesus’ life, from the temptation, to a number of healing miracles, the welcoming of Zacchaeus and the entry into Jerusalem. The big problem the forces of Hell are having is that Jesus simply does things in strange or unexpected ways, and those gates that protect (or trap) humanity keep falling down.
One of the troubles of writing the Devil is that it’s very easy to sound like you’re on his side. Butcher’s Satan is charismatic at first, he’s persuasive in his argument that suffering creates character and forges nobility. Naturally, Satan is a showboat, he has a sense of drama and style. But as the play continues, it’s obvious that he’s only in it for the suffering, not the nobility. His weakness becomes increasingly clear as he becomes more and more pathetic. He may want to present himself as a Miltonic freedom fighter, ‘non serviam’ and all that, but it becomes he’s only prepared to serve himself.
The script is extremely good. It dramatises well-known Biblical stories in interesting and powerful ways, emphasising their humanity and making them feel fresh. It uses a full toolbox of poetic techniques from changes in meter to controlled use of rhyming couplets and alliteration which vary the tone and pace. It’s a rare play that would be worth detailed reading.
Butcher performs the Devil full of energy but slides brilliantly into interpretations of a steely Mary, a distressed maniac, a woman haunted by her medical condition and a nasty little tax collector. He’s aided by Jack C Arnold’s soundtrack, which provides effects for sharpening of knives, mutters from the demonic audience and dialogue from heavenly voices. This set soundtrack, rather than a series of cues, means that Butcher needs to be extraordinarily precise with his movements and timing so he stays in sync. This precision does mean the play lacks a little in spontaneity, the soundtrack acts like a pair of rails the play cannot deviate from. While it keeps it tight, there are occasionally moments where it feels like the performance is going through the motions.
Despite a throw-away reference to Greta Thunberg, it’s clear that The Devil’s Passion was written in 2015, with all the references to the ‘War on Terror’, which feels almost quaint considering the world-changing events since then. Butcher is, however, giving the profits of the performance to the Amos Trust Emergency Appeal for Gaza, so it’s clear that newer political developments are on his mind.
The Devil’s Passion is a powerhouse of a performance with a belter of a script and deserves to be seen.
Runs Until 4 November 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
A precise work of passion.
