Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2014 - 10

Marnie Mosiman and George Ede in "Don Juan in Hell" from Man and Superman, South Coast
Repertory Theatre, 1990. Set design by Cliff Faulkner, costume design by Shigeru Yaji. Photo
courtesy South Coast Repertory Theatre.

As populations grow, there are more people alive today
than have previously lived, so there must be a question of
where all the unborn have been hiding. And religions that tell
of a judgment day, when either individually or in small groups
people are judged, evoke images of heavenly traffic jams. There
are certainly theological answers to these heathen questions,
but given the variety of beliefs, how does one settle on what
really happens? Moreover, why does one trust those prophets
or seers who may or may not be receiving messages from God
or may only be psychotic? One decides these questions based
on one's own beliefs which are accepted as true while all the
others are false.
As an example within one religion, Judaism, there can be
multiple and conflicting ideas about the afterlife, from the simplest that says we don't know so we must live a good life now,
to the complicated that claims seven heavens, each ruled by different archangels. There is even a belief among some Jews that
when the messiah comes, all the dead will travel to Jerusalem to

theatre design

& technology

summer

2014

be resurrected. Because the dead will travel underground, being buried in Jerusalem is highly desired, being first in line so
to speak. Israelis like to quip that speaking to God in Jerusalem
is not a long distance call.
Islam has a similar multiplicity of ideas about what happens after death. Believers will go to the top level of heaven
described in the Qur'an as a sort of fancy resort with everyone
well dressed, well fed and happy. At the highest level, angels
have built mansions of solid gold. Residents are in the company of parents and children. Heaven has seven levels, with the
lowest level being one hundred times better than anything on
earth. For some, more modern interpretations posit that a new
and better soul is formed that enjoys spiritual pleasures rather
material pleasures. Recently we read in the newspapers of the
rewards martyrs enjoy after they have gone kaboom: they get
seventy-two virgins, and we assume, the stamina to take advantage of the prize.
Nor do Christians have a unified picture of the afterlife.
Catholics, Protestants in multiple sects, Mormons, Russian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, snake handlers, and more all are
sure. (Maybe Unitarians are not so sure.) One cult leader after
another proclaims the end of the world on a date certain only
to admit, red faced, that he must have figured wrong.
And as time brings greater scientific understanding, religions have needed to either amend their doctrines or completely reject science. In fact, scientists say that historically
every time religion has tried to explain the physical world, it
has been wrong. The notion in all religions that truth resides
with believers creates circumstances that cause non-believers
to scratch their heads: for example in the past, indulgences
were sold to get purchasers shorter terms in purgatory, a sort
of theological board game to get out of jail free. And the idea
that a pope can name someone a saint seems presumptuous,
unless he is getting the message in Jerusalem.
The flippancy of the above has probably upset some readers but there is method in this madness. Almost all of the plays
and operas that are set in the afterlife have no relation to common religious belief and many make fun of those beliefs.
George Bernard Shaw was always turning commonly held
beliefs upside down. He wrote about life after death in both
Saint Joan and Man and Superman. The epilogue in Saint
Joan is not set in the afterlife, but many dead people come
back to tell their stories in what starts out as the dream of King
Charles of France twenty-five years after Joan was burned at the
stake. It is the day that the church reversed its judgment that
she was a witch and a heretic. All of the major characters in the
play appear, as well as some that are only mentioned. One is an
English soldier who, when Joan was on the pyre gave her two
sticks tied together so she could hold a cross. He is rewarded
with one day a year away from hell. When asked what hell is
like the soldier says, "You won't find it so bad, sir. Jolly. Like
as if you were always drunk without the trouble and expense
of drinking. Tip top company too: emperors and popes, kings
and all sorts."

Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2014