The Prodigal Son - A wayward son who squanders his inheritance, however he returns home to find that his father forgives him. Luke 15:11-32
The parable of The Prodigal Son is reflected in the tale of Luke, Chapter 15, from the Bible. The characters in the parable are The Father, The Prodigal Son and The Elder Son.
The Father is a wealthy man with two sons - He is the reflection of divine love. Some say that the father is the representation of God, some prefer the suggestion that he is actually the symbol of Christ.
The Elder Son is a materialistic man whom desires no familial relationships. He is suggested to be the representation of The Pharisees who had religion and and righteousness in their heads, but not in their hearts. They did not believe in Christ nor forgiveness of sins.
The Prodigal Son is a young, wasteful and unmarried boy who is undisciplined in the ways of life. He is said to be the representation of a person living in rebellion without Christ in their life. The fable tells us that we sometimes need to hit rock-bottom before we can repent for our sins.
The basis of this parable from the Bible tells us that we, as the general human race, are wasteful and are too absorbed in our own wants, needs and desires to realise that we are living in sin. In this sinful life we hurt others around us, especially our fathers, and we need to repent and ask for forgiveness. In this, our fathers will always love us and grant us with patience, generosity and grace. All we need to do is awaken our hearts to the love of Christ and redeem ourselves in his eyes.
The premise of Hibberd's The Prodigal Son is in a similar vein of this Bible story, however modernised for a 90s post modern audience with the inclusion of a homosexual son, unforgiving parents and disconnected language. In Hibberd's version, we are witnessing the return of The Son to The Father and Mother (known only as Mr and Mrs in the playscript)
"The Son returns home 30 years after being rejected by his family on the suggestion that he is a homosexual. He returns home in the hope that he will be granted a reconciliation with his parents, only to be rejected again, specifically by a ruthless and monstrous mother." (Derived from Jack Hibberd's website)
In replacement of The Elder Son, Hibberd inserts the Mother character with all be same representations of this character - self righteous, pitiless and unforgiving. The Father character is per the parable. He is loving and devoted parent. He cannot understand why his son has left nor why he has returned, he is only glad that he has come back and doesn't care for the why.
Mr: I missed you, son. Dreadfully. Your absence has been like a hole in my -
Mrs: Head
Mr: Heart
On the other side The Mother is persistent in her unrelenting belligerent manner, trying to get her son to blame himself for leaving, forcing him to explain his return. She constantly berates The Prodigal Son and blames him for her ruined uterus, vagina and sagging breasts. She refuses his questions and his insistence on moving home again.
Mrs: The room is frozen in time. And will remain unthawed.
Son: Like your heart.
Mrs: I never wanted you.
Son: I gathered that. It is unusual for a mother to hang her son on a meat hook when he has been naughty.
The play starts with only the sound of a metronome. A heart beat. It is suddenly stopped by The Father. The family continue to act as a normal family - the pouring and offering of coffee, the offering of cake - but in complete silence with frequent and highly specific pauses to create different tableaux.
In the finality of the situation, after The Prodigal Son is asked to leave the house, The Father begins the metronome again. The heartbeat continues.
The language in this play has a post-modern vibe to it. It is broken up into small tableaux with frequent silences and sometimes incomprehensible, and sometimes philosophical, dialogue and conversations.
Mrs: Children. They suck you dry. They sup upon your very marrow. To them your blood is raspberry pop. They gnaw at your liver. Guzzle goblets of fluid, cerebrospinal and lymph. They eat your placenta. Buttocks subside and gravitate. Breasts become old knapsacks. Your navel fills up with gunk. Receptacles pucker. You feel like tripe.
(Pause)
Mr: I could do with a snack.
The Prodigal Son was first produced for the Queensland Theatre Company in 1997 and Directed by Jennifer Flowers, as part of their short season. It was first produced in script form alongside Barry Dickins play 'Insouciance' published by Playbox in 2001. Directed by Daniel Schussler (I think....) for Playbox (now The Malthouse) it opened in the Beckett Theatre in July 2001 for a short double bill season.
Unfortunately there are so little productions of this play that I cannot even search for reviews of productions or images from any shows apart from the Playbox season. (And even then, all I can find is reference to reviews written... http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/11567)
[FYI - I am on my iPad and it won't let me do anything fancy like imbed links and make the images all pretty
and properly centred.]
This is a real shame as it is a brilliant play that deals with some meaty issues that are especially prevalent today with the debates on gay marriage.
I for one would love any chance to see this play in action as Hibberd's plays always carry a sense of the public and private lives of dysfunctional families and the detachment and disillusionment of such in these familial structures.
Hibberd is such an Australian institution, being one of the founders of of the Melbourne Writers Theatre, which is still running today. He is noted for his playwriting, especially with his play 'Dimboola', which has been noted as one of the most produced Australian plays, even to this day (albeit in Amateur Theatre circles).
Next Week: 'A Comedy of Errors' by William Shakespeare
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