What do a Founding Father, a Victorian novelist and a Russian revolutionary have in common? Not much, but each of these notoriously great minds was once brazen enough to pen his own Gospel. Brought together, they debate the meaning of life and the nature of God in a whip-smart comedy that illuminates the brilliance, flaws and humor of three unforgettable philosophers.
“Hugely entertaining! As funny as it is brainy. Kimberly Senior’s animated direction and pitch-perfect casting also could not be more ideal.”
- Chicago Sun-Times
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(from left) Jeff Parker, Mark Montgomery, Nathan Hosner
(from top) Nathan Hosner, Mark Montgomery, Jeff Parker
Production photos by Michael Brosilow.
REVIEW
Vibrant ‘Discord’ among big thinkers Jefferson, Dickens, Tolstoy
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
By HEDY WEISS
No, it’s not a joke (although it often is as funny as it is brainy), but here’s the premise: Three men with radically different personalities and histories are catapulted, one by one, into a cold, gray interrogation room where the door slams shut quite decisively behind them. One is a founding father of the United States (not that Hamilton guy), one is the most famous British novelist of the Victorian era, and the third is a towering Russian novelist who seems to be irrationally jealous of Shakespeare.
The result is the very best production of Northlight Theatre’s current season, a philosophical debate bristling with mischief, mania, hubris and flamboyance, penned by a writer (best known for his work on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” and as the producer of the first 1,100 episodes of Maher’s “Politically Incorrect”) with a grand gift for making profound intellectual arguments at once accessible and hugely entertaining. Kimberly Senior’s animated direction and pitch-perfect casting also could not be more ideal.
REVIEW
In smart ‘Gospel,’ Jefferson, Dickens and Tolstoy duke it out in hell
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
By CHRIS JONES
Did you know Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy all wrote their own versions of the Bible? Ah! The ego of the refined mind! Hello, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Thomas, Charles and Leo!
This 2014 play was penned by Scott Carter, the longtime writer and executive producer for “Real Time With Bill Maher,” which indicates both the pedigree and the wonkish bona fides of the scribe. But Carter actually has written an amusing little play, cheerfully anachronistic and irreverent, that imagines Jefferson (Nathan Hosner in Kimberly Senior’s production), Dickens (Jeff Parker) and Tolstoy (Mark Montgomery) all stuck together in purgatory, here aptly defined as three towering egos obliged to argue with one another for eternity.
If you like some catnip for the noggin, this is your show.