Photo from Flickr here.
I have been meaning to write about this for a while - i went to see On Religion at the Soho Theatre a few weeks ago. It's co-wrote by the philosopher AC Grayling and playwright Mick Gordon. I previously read AC Grayling's book "What is Good?" which is absolutely fantastic, recounting man's search for "the good life" or meaning and purpose, from ancient Greece to modern times.
On Religion is essentially about the dynamics of a family, divided by different answers to the question "What is good?". The mother, a leading naturalist academic, superbly played by Gemma Jones, is crushed firstly by her son's conversion to Christianity and entry into priesthood, and then by his death. The family (mother, father, son, girlfriend) is a microcosm of society in that it tries to illuminate the various different world views of society.
I though the play was fantastic, no let up throughout, constantly kept us on our toes, not quite sure of the relevance of some scenes until the end of the play when it all came together. The acting was superb by all, some of the scenes were utterly gripping.
What On Religion did really well was present the differing and contrasting viewpoints of the protagonists in a way that shows there are no easy answers. Life is complicated, and as such the way people choose to live their life is always going to be complicated and contentious. The play gave a glimpse of exactly how contentious: touching on birth, death, marriage, love, loss, grief, prayer, hope, laughter and reconciliation, to name a few themes. You may hold on to your beliefs, be they rooted in reason, science, tragic loss, upbringing, or "calling", but you need to respect other people's decisions to live their life. A great example of intolerance was the fundamentalist fervor of Grace, the academic mother, who refused to grant her son his dying wish because his religious beliefs were "wrong".
All in all a fascinating play, which led me to look up a bit on humanism, courtesy of wikipedia here. Which led to skepticism here, and eudaimonia here. Fascinating stuff.
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