The Wakefield Mysteries

Jennifer Rudsit

Doug Sugano

British Literature before 1800

October 21, 2013

The Wakefield Mysteries

            The Whitworth Theatre Department’s production of “The Wakefield Mysteries” effectively modernized the plays while still holding true to the original intent of the plays. The modernization of certain character portrayals made the stories more relatable and humorous to the audience, surprising most attendees with how funny and enjoyable the plays were. While in the original production there were a lot more plays that encompassed major stories from throughout the entire Bible, Whitworth’s version stopped at the Nativity scene. Act I contained the Prologue, The Creation, The Fall of Lucifer, The Garden of Eden, The Killing of Abel, and The Flood, while Act II included Abraham and Isaac, The Flight Out of Egypt, The Annunciation, Herod and the Three Kings, and The Shepard’s Play. While presented as separate stories, each one of them led into the next, literally setting the stage for the culminating story of the birth of Jesus with the weaving in and out of themes like God’s redemption, love, and grace, at the heart of every story.

            The modernization of certain parts of the plays, as previously mentioned, was very effective in relation to audience enjoyment. Cain riding out on a John Deer tractor instead of using a plow unites the audience through humor, as well as helping the audience identify with Cain, a character people try to separate themselves from, seeing as people usually do not want to identify with the first murderer in existence. In the post-production discussion with Doug Sugano and Dianna Trotter, they discussed how while they did modernize some of the characters and props, the lines and the jokes included in the plays remained the same, revealing how there is such continuity in humor throughout the ages. Modernization was also used, however, to stay true to the original intent of the jokes. The most striking example of this, in my opinion, was when Dianna Trotter explained her reasoning behind gender-swapping of Noah and his wife. Her reasoning was that it would make the scene more humorous, as well as avoid any hints at domestic violence in the scene. Because of modern values and societal implications surrounding relationships, her decision was necessary in order to uphold the original intent of the jokes, keeping it light-hearted and funny instead of uncomfortable and inappropriate.

            The modernization was also effective because it made the characters more relatable to the audience. The demons danced hip hop with Lucifer, the three shepherds were homeless, Moses was the over-eager, terrified nerd, and all of these character portrayals are characters that the audience can relate to, with both the cultural references and the weaknesses exemplified through modern social norms and expressions. Going in, I was afraid that the plays would be hard to understand and not very exciting, but because of the original writing and humor in the text, and because of the modernizations in the play, I really enjoyed the play a lot more than I thought I would. Modernizing a play while staying true to the original script is a very difficult thing to do, and I think that the Whitworth Theatre Department did an excellent job.