Christians spring on to offensive over musical

Feb 1 2006 By Tony Collins

CHRISTIAN protesters across Birmingham today vowed to demonstrate outside a theatre when it stages a musical they brand "deliberately blasphemous and deeply offensive".

Jerry Springer the Opera, which depicts God, Jesus and Satan in a chat show setting, is being performed at the Hippodrome from February 6-18.

Birmingham Christian Response, which claims to represent churches in the city, said it would demonstrate outside the theatre in the form of acts of worship, sharing their faith with passers-by.

But they said the protests would be peaceful, unlike the violent scenes by Sikh protesters outside the Rep Theatre in December 2004 which led to the play Behzti being cancelled.

Representative Pastor Chris Thomas, of Bournville Evangelical Church, said: "It sets out to entertain through being tasteless and offensive. Purporting to be a critique of the American reality show, it has a clear anti-Christian agenda."

"Jesus is portrayed as a childish, foul-mouthed woman-beater with a sexual predilection for human excrement, and who declares himself to be 'a bit gay'. Mary is said to have been raped by God."

Hippodrome chief Stuart Griffiths described it as the "first genuinely original new work" in years and praised local writers Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee.