Shakespeare’s Gospel Parodies;
A Medieval Mystery Tour

“As an evening of theater it was gorgeous”-- review by Ed Malin.

Shakespeare’s plays contain 14 resurrections, 12 Apocalypses, 5 Virgin Mary allegories, at least 40 Christ figures and 3,000 other religious references. They were written using 14 different translations of the Bible. Yet none of the plays ends in Paradise. Why do the Marys (Juliet, Ophelia, Desdemona) die before giving birth to the savior? Why are the Messiah figures (Laertes, Shylock, Bottom/Pyramus) defeated? Why is the playwright parodying the Gospels?
Shakespeare’s Gospel Parodies offers a modern twist on the mystery plays. It takes 9 Shakespeare scenes each of which parodies a different episode in the Gospels and locates them in a different part of an amazing 1890s church.

This overview of the Tour explores some of the different scenes from the Shakespearean plays each of which parodies a different part of the gospel story. Each tableau will be located in a different part of this amazing 1890s building, and allows the audience to investigate what each means and to see them in any order or watch the same one multiple times. Some favorites are theThree Magi from "Titus Andronicus," the parody of the Trials of Jesus in "Merchant of Venice," the Crucifixion scene of the death of Bottom/Pyramus from "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and the Nurse’s scene as The Annunciation from "Romeo and Juliet." See the illustration at left and the IPhone video here.

Like Marlowe, Shakespeare regards the Gospels as a Roman literary creation --- a view that is being rediscovered by modern NT scholars.