I have never read the book, "The Exorcist" nor seen the movie of the same name. Oh, of course, I saw clips of the movie. I mean it was the talk of the 1970s, and it still gets on lists of horror films to be seen. But I avoided it, even though part of the movie was filmed at the language lab of my college.
If the movie, and maybe the book, asks the question, "Do you believe in the devil", well, it really wasn't a question for me. I believe there was a beautiful angel, Lucifer, the bearer of light, who decided that he did not want to answer to his Creator. He was cast out of heaven to begin his dominion in hell, cut off from the Divinity he so ruthlessly sought to wrest. And so began the work of the Tempter against God's other creatures of conscience, mankind.
I had a couple of encounters with him, as far as I am concerned, or some part of his realm. When I was a kid, whenever I stayed at a certain friend's house, I always felt uncomfortable, like someone or something evil was watching me. I discounted it until I idly mentioned to my friend my creepy feeling. She said, matter of factly, as I recall, "Oh, we have a ghost". When their schizophrenic next door neighbor broke into their house while we were lunching on day, carrying a knife, holy water, and candles, I came as close to the devil's business as I ever wanted to do. And I'd heard about some of the scenes in the movie, which I simply found distasteful--they seemed too blasphemous to me, with my Catholic background.
So, I don't know exactly what made me say "yes" to the invitation of Len Speaks to see the recently opened stage version at the Geffen Playhouse. Maybe it was that he told me it was less horror (and so I later read) than psychological drama. But having said, "yes" I can now say dear Len Speaks, I considered backing out. I won't go so far as feeling that by going I was maybe committing a sin, but it was pretty close to that feeling.
I was relieved we were in the balcony. If there was something ugly I'd not get a clear view. And we were close to the exit, just in case I needed to go into a hallway to save my soul. I was a bit discomfited immediately by the single set, which stands for the home, and bedroom of the possessed girl, Regan, that looked exactly like the inside of a Church, a Catholic Church. On the altar like table, which doubled as Regan's bed (oh, yes, those creative theatre folk!) there was a set up for the Mass, a Chalice was covered by a veil, and the girl's bedsheet was also the altar covering. I couldn't miss the big cross hovering over the altar/bed, but I did initially miss the lamp that signifies the Presence of God in the tabernacle. When I saw it, I cringed a little. The first thing the girl does (played happily by a child like adult), is take that chalice and the large unconsecrated host and breaks it up, like a priest, turning the chalice upside down and using the pieces in a Ouija board sort of "game" in which she is summoning the evil within her. It was not looking good, but Djinn what did you think you were going to "Carousel"?
You know the story, right? Mom, Chris, played to exquisite woodenness by Brooke Shields (who I think is a good actress, wrong role), is an atheist, whose beautiful daughter is acting really weird. She urinates in odd places, like on people's shoes. She speaks in languages she shouldn't know. She cusses a lot in them. She predicts the death of an"uncle" an actor who drinks too much and like one or more of the producers or writers of the play, is a smug "fallen away" Catholic. I say smug, not because of the fallen away part, but because they make it sound like only intelligent people "fall away." Oh, and Regan/Devil actually kills dear uncle, which is why Chris doesn't want any kind of social services, or other authorities involved. Doctors can't help or try to explain the child's behavior away by calling it plain old mental illness. So, she goes to a priest, Fr. Damien, who is busy doubting God, the devil, and Daniel Webster played to exquisite woodenness by an actor whose name I don't remember. (You'd think he was dealing with an errant fly the way he reads his lines). He is also feeling guilty about how he treated his mother in her last illness. Chris, the non-believer, has to exhort Damien, the kinda believer, to get an exorcist in there to deal with Regan. And the devil is looking forward to another fight with that particular exorcist, Fr. Merrin. (Richard Chamberlain who is back to using his English accent. Don't get me wrong, I have a copy of the Thorn Birds and I love Richard Chamberlain, but Fr. Merrin is really nothing more than a way to move the story along, whenever the dialogue is unable to do it). Fr. Merrin does a preliminary exorcism in which Regan levitates (thanks to Penn of Penn and Teller amid her other gyrations), Fr. Merrin though has a weak heart from the last encounter. And he dies rather quietly (and very much like Father whats-his-name in The Thorn Birds) requiring Damien to get out of his civvies and into his cassock and sacrifice himself to banish the devil from the little girl in the exorcism majeur. Oh,the sacrifice is emphasized by a spray of blood from the hovering cross. In between there is banter about God, the nature of evil, doubt, belief, man's responsibility (maybe), free choice. For my part, and forgive the flippancy, Lord, God seems to be wisely absent from the proceedings nothwithstanding the light signfying Him..
The execution of this play, apparently going to Broadway (say it ain't so), was, amateurish for all the pablum in various high brow papers and on line sites about the streamlining of the book and avoiding the horror of the film. One of the reviewers said the dialogue was stilted. I think that was generous. With rare moments of coherence the script was abysmal. They were going for gravitas. I will stop short of saying they got "drivel", but that too is a close one. The voices, often saying the Hail Mary, were distracting and reminded me of an episode in Star Trek where Captain Kirk was caught in a world of too many people, but thought his ship was empty. Everybody drank out of chalices, like they just had them lying around the house. I'm guessing that this was considered a really stunning idea by the artistes. Heavy handed.
Since the book was written by a Catholic, and I've never read the book, I cannot say whether the massive misunderstanding and mockery of the Catholic faith is Blatty's or the adaptation. There was also confusion on the part of the play writers about whether it is the Devil or man who causes things like Rwanda. It ain't the devil folks, although I'm sure he's delighted.
Frankly, to be fair, I'm not sure this is a story that can be done on stage. Maybe if you insist, one does it a la "My Conversation with Andre" where an atheist, an agnostic and a priest sit and talk about these weighty subjects. Or maybe it's just better to leave it all alone and let philosophers and theologians have at it, which by the way, they have for thousands of years.
And if you insist on going to Broadway, well, it really needs work.
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