Date: Fri, 05 Jun 1998 00:58:05 +0100 Subject: TERRENCE McNALLY'S PLAY, 'CORPUS CHRISTI' From: OW-jgh *** OutRage! defends playwright's artistic freedom *** American playwright, Terrence McNally, ("Love! Valour! Compassion!"), has had a scheduled run of his new play, "Corpus Christi", cancelled by the prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, following threats to kill the staff, burn down the theatre and "exterminate" McNally. McNally's play --modelled on the biblical story of Jesus-- is about a young gay man, Joshua, and his sexual adventures with his 12 disciples. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York has vowed to "wage a war" against any attempt to stage the play. Top playwrights --Tony Kushner, Edward Albee and Athol Fugard-- have urged the theatre to reverse its cancellation, accusing the theatre of "capitulation to right- wing extremists and religious zealots". The depiction of a gay Jesus has been defended on the grounds of artistic freedom and legitimate historical speculation by OutRage!. (A suppressed version of St. Mark's gospel alludes to Jesus having a homosexual relationship with a youth he raised from the dead.) Peter Tatchell of OutRage! says there is no authoritative information about Jesus's sexuality: "We don't know for sure whether Jesus was straight, gay, bisexual or celibate. There is no evidence for the Church's presumption that he was heterosexual. Nothing in the Bible points to him having relationships with women. The possibility that Christ was gay cannot be ruled out. For further details see http://www.OutRage.cygnet.co.uk/corpus.htm =================================== OutRage! has been experiencing technical problems this week from our I.S.P.. To contact OutRage! directly, send email to: mehdi@globalnet.co.uk or jgh@intonet.co.uk =================================== =================================== -- You may leave this list automatically by sending a message to list-processor@diversity.org.uk, containing a line that says unsubscribe outrage-world The 'lists' command will give information about other services