Play tells Bible story in two hours
TORONTO, ON—As five actors take the stage at Walmer Road Centre, the whole story of Scripture starts again from the beginning.
The Big Picture is a play which aims to distill the essence of the Bible into two hours. It is touring Canada again this year, 12 years after it was first mounted.
"It's not the fact it's a condensation which makes it valuable," says playwright Dennis Hassel, "it's how this play enables someone to know the Bible backwards and forwards and yet see it in a new light. To see creation, fall and redemption in a new way … and how something like what happened between Adam and Eve is what's happening between men and women today."
Hassel first wrote the play for Brookstone Performing Arts as a millennial project. It toured with the Canadian Bible Society for their 200th anniversary in 2004, and has been picked up by churches, campuses and theatres across Canada.
"The thing about the Bible is that it is happening in our lives every day," he adds. "Whether it's crossing the Jordan, crucifying Christ or a giant like Goliath—we face it in our lives, again and again, and again."
The five actor production is directed by Tom Carson, executive director of The Arts Engine.
Carson says, "The thing that has been most important for the production and cast is that we really approach this as an enactment of our faith. It is our worship. It is actors' worship. We concentrated not just on making a play, but in finding our own faith expression in it."
The Big Picture's current tour has included a run at Fire Exit Theatre in Calgary and The Walmer Centre in Toronto, as well as performances at The King's University College in Edmonton and churches across Alberta and Ontario.
"We've realized anew how incredible relevant it is," Carson says, "and how much people need this play again."
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