Review: Fools on a Hill
They walk amongst us in ever greater numbers. The Faithfull prefer to believe in some nebulous entity before countenancing us. They don’t care for your opinions. For they are beyond reproach. They walk the path of the righteous and you? Well, you are simply too messy. The thing about religion is that it is a great consumer of time. Time you could better use to consider (let alone act on) climate change, food banks or unethical wars…or any other number of atrocities playing out across the globe now. Say what you like about the Greek gods: Helios at least intervened when his golden cows were slaughtered. And Athena actively protected her chosen one (Odysseus) in the face of Neptune’s fury who himself sought vengeance for the blinding of his son (a cyclops). It’s as if the ‘Christian God’ was taking notes when Zeus decided not to involve himself in the war between the Trojans and the Greeks and thought “Yes, Absence! That’s what we need more of!”…and so, brought forth all the presence of an empty chair belonging to the kid who from Day 1 of school-term never turns up….whose existence depends only on that one person who keeps shouting out their name every day. Wise decision. All the evidence suggests absence makes the heart grow fonder.
It is within this context we meet the Christians in Fools on a Hill. Christian 1 (Erin Scanlan) appears first having just ‘manufactured’ a cross. For today, there will be a sacrifice. None of this is Greek. The cross is too short, the nails are too few, and the girth of the rope very forgiving. All is not lost as Christian 2 (Ross Flynn), a professional believer who has spotted these flaws, goes about making his own cross from the detritus lying around the park. The relationship between Flynn and Scanlan is excellent. Christian 2 seeks to exploit the naivety of Christian 1, who is not as innocent as she seems and cleverly plays Christian 2 into being the sacrifice. They are up against the clock - God is always cognizant of the Gregorian calendar - and a crack of thunder tells them that now is the time. In walks Angie the Angel with a business-case. If you believed in angels, this would be a good time to reconsider. There are more wings on a lemon from Arnold Clark. But this is the angel these Christians deserve. Angie flicks through a well-thumbed, dog-eared guide to see where they might’ve transgressed against the rules. It is encouraging to think that Heaven operates under a kind-of Health & Safety Executive: Heaven as nothing more than an extension of Earth.
Fools on A Hill, written by Chris Patrick and directed by Colin McGowan is funny, witty and prescient. Theatre 118 have started their Play of the Week season with an absolute banger to a full house. The evening is an event where people can mix freely and meet the creative crew. It is a refreshing approach to grassroots theatre which is both accessible and inclusive (the ticket price or whatever you can afford) and is already succeeding in creating a community and a sense of place.
Perhaps there are angels. Perhaps their name is Theatre 118.
Fools on a Hill ran 3rd - 5th July at Theatre 118, Glasgow.