People and Places

Approaching Apocalypse -a quick Review

I went along to this rather strange but interesting event last night. As I know David  Miles, one of the main artists behind the piece, from BIAD I had heard his lectures and watched him working on this piece over quite a period. Obviously Revelation is of some importance to him; not just as a work of poetic and historic importance, but he may even, and from the show it seems more than may, take this strange piece of arcane scripture seriously.

The show was in St Martins a place well suited for a presentation such as this, giving atmosphere to the piece. The sound and visual quality of the presentation was technically wonderful. The main narration by Joss Ackland being the stand out feature, Certainly some thought has gone into the whole thing.

Unfortunately, for me at least, a new and unfamiliar translation of Revelation was used, giving rise to some strange and apparent out of place contributions from God, condemning “Drug Dealers” at one point to the Lake of Fire. I rather expected paedophiles and other such modern witches to get a mention.

The risible nature of Revelation itself should not put you off the fact that historically it is an important work. A real return to the God of the old testament, a bully, a thug and a creature completely void of anything approaching morality. Given the choice I would take the lake of fire any day over worshipping this horror!

David’s images are incredibly well done. Painstaking built up from “real” photographic images to create something half way between pre renaissance religious horror and the works of Indian classic art. God himself is pure light and every phrase in Revelation is interpreted with an exactness and no attempt at irony or subversion. David may have been having some of the same conversations with angels as others influenced by Revelation did in their Brixton back gardens!

For the believer in the Jesus of the CoE and the modern almost agnostic church this is an antidote. A real full on fire and brimstone vision of the true horrors at the heart of the Christian religion. A vision of a universe that is as depressing as anything I can imagine.

For the committed atheist and aesthete it is lacking some what in the poetry of the early translation but still worth a look.

It’s on to the end of the week and then goes on tour. I expect it to do really well in the southern states of the USA.