Eric Petrossian - KINGDOM COME: THE LIFE OF CHRIST

Besed on the Gospels in the NIV, this is a one man show with a difference. Eric is the Narrator, Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, Pilot, ..., even Mary, even Satan. This is exactly what it purports to be: The life of Jesus on Earth. Two 40 minute performances, starting at the very beginning, with a few words from Genesis and a genealogy, and finishing with the post resurrection encounters.

I have seen many presentations of the gospel in my time. Our very own version in 1989 is still clear in my memory. This is different because it is just one man. I recently watched a biography of Patrick Stewart - who is renowned for his one man show, so I had a little idea of what to expect. Eric does a good job of changing characters, and there was never any confusion about who he was supposed to be. The conversations were very skillfully handled. Some of his accents may have been difficult to place - I remember thinking one was a cross between Derek Jacobi's Claudius and Sean Connery. Most of the time the portrayal of the story meant that, there really wasn't too much time to come up with such ridiculous comparisons. Even though I knew the ending the dramatic portrayal brings out long lost understandings and probably a few new ones too.

Take a look at the Christ Church page, and you will see that I am not alone in thinking that this is a brilliant performance. Many people have recommended him, and rightly so.

Christ Church was laid out with tables at the back and cheese and wine was served at the interval. My only concern was that so many people missed the opportunity to see him. The church should have been creaking at the seams with people trying to get in. They may never know what they missed.

If you get a chnace to see Eric somewhere else go out of your way to make sure that you do.