Rather than reading last rites, priests tell jokes and perform song-and-dance numbers to grieving victims on their deathbeds. Sounds like a twisted, psychotic idea, right?
Offering Black Plague victims an opportunity to die laughing is the mission of Father Flote, the central character in "Red Noses," a comedy written by Peter Barnes. Flote believes God wants "red noses, not black Death."
Directed by drama department chair and summer repertory producer Mara Sabinson, "Red Noses" features David Beach '86 as Flote and Melinda Lopez '86, as well as other Dartmouth graduates and undergraduates.
Set in 1348 during the period of the Black Death, "Red Noses" presents a band of red-nosed "Christ's Clowns" who roam the pestilence-ridden French countryside spreading a hopeful message.
The mirthful missionaries include a sex-starved nun, a blind knife-juggler, one-legged dancers, and a philosophical rapist-soldier among other walking contradictions.
Their attempts at comforting the hopeless are thwarted by other groups such as the Black Ravens, who spread disease in the hopes of upsetting order; the Flagellants, a fervent religious group that practices self-mutilation in the belief that pain purges the soul and the community of evil; and the Catholic Church, which is led by a cowardly, cold-hearted and exploitative Pope.
The play charts the group's progress from the Plague epoch to healthier times, when the missionaries' message to laugh at Death becomes irrelevant and out of place. The Red Noses must cope with the other groups if they want to survive, in addition to facing the threats of Death.
However, humor takes precedence over fear in this play. The play is hilarious and packed with memorable one-liners, but gets corny and overdone at times.
If you're interested in philosophizing a little and laughing a lot, this madcap play is playing from August 20 to 22 at the Hopkins Center's Center Theater.
