Description
Jesus My Boy is a one-person play about fathers everywhere. It was originally performed by John Dowie and directed by Victor Spinetti at the Edinburgh Fringe. A 1998-9 production starring Tom Conti, directed by Tom Kinnimont, was performed at at the Apollo Theatre, London. It has also played in translation and in English throughout the world.
“Achieves the almost impossible feat of giving it a fresh perspective… Joseph shakes off his image of a dutiful but sexless octogenarian and we see instead a man who is warm, funny, vulnerable yet unconditionally loving… not only a joyous and poignant accessibility but a relevance many of us thought it had lost forever.”
Glasgow Herald
“Brilliant, funny, moving, and tells you more about the real John Dowie than any amount of drinking sessions. In the guise of the cuckolded carpenter, he really opens up.”
Stewart Lee
“John Dowie’s take on the biblical tale is a touching, affectionate and thoroughly absorbing piece of drama. Yes, there are jokes in this stunning monologue – and a couple of them are real belters – but this is not a rat-a-tat-tat gag fest, but a warm and intelligent treatment of perhaps the best-known tale. Dowie would make a fantastic preacher… the way he recounts ‘the greatest story ever told’ genuinely humanises the story of Christ… the route he takes is never predictable, and some of the other angles are truly inspired… this truly is a divine comedy.”
Chortle
“John Dowie’s generous-hearted monologue takes potentially dodgy material and turns it into something humane and often remarkably touching… comes remarkably close to the heart of the mystery.”
Telegraph
“Scholarly, deeply poignant and wickedly funny – sympathetic to Christianity yet far from proselytising – intellectually rigorous yet easily accessible; simply staged but multi-layered, full of light humour and deep pain. It is, in short, a triumph.”
Edinburgh List
Pages: 50
ISBN: 978-1-910631-84-3
