God on Trial
Encyclopedia
God on Trial is a 2008
BBC
/WGBH Boston television play written by Frank Cottrell Boyce
, starring Antony Sher
, Rupert Graves
and Jack Shepherd. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War II
. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial
in absentia
for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is if God has broken his covenant
with the Jewish people by allowing the Nazis to commit genocide
.
The play is based on an event described by Elie Wiesel
in his book The Trial of God
, though Boyce describes this tale as "apocryphal". According to Boyce, producer Mark Redhead
"had been trying to turn the story into a film for almost 20 years by the time he called me in 2005 to write the screenplay."
.
found it "powerful and thoughtful stuff, with some fine performances by some fine actors - Antony Sher, Rupert Graves, Dominic Cooper." Remarking that Boyce wrote the piece from a position of personal faith, James Walton in The Telegraph
observed, "Yet, as each of the characters put forward a different view on the question of God and suffering, it was clear that he was willing to interrogate his beliefs with real ferocity." This was a complex piece, and "as the fierceness of the intellectual and emotional grip tightened, it was impossible to imagine any halfway-thoughtful viewers, of whatever prior convictions, not having a disturbing sense of their own ideas coming under sustained and convincing attack." In a long review for The Times
, Tim Teeman had great praise for the cast: "The performances were so strong it felt a privilege to watch the actors, among them Antony Sher, Rupert Graves, Stephen Dillane and Jack Shepherd." He also praises director Andy de Emmony's "brilliant, arresting sleight of hand... [mixing] the prisoners, naked and shorn, together with the present-day touring party in the gas chamber." For The Independent
, Thomas Sutcliffe remarked on Sher's role as the play's smouldering fuse: "Every now and then you saw Antony Sher, davening silently in a corner of the barracks. Like a loaded gun in a Chekhov play, you knew he was going to go off eventually and that it would be significant when he did, and indeed it was his explosive inventory of God's biblically attested crimes that finally swung the judges in favour of a guilty verdict."
Opposite fierce competition from the much-trailed, eagerly awaited debut episode of ITV
's four-part time travel fantasy series, Lost in Austen
, and an episode of the BBC's celebrity genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are?, featuring Esther Rantzen
, God on Trial attracted 700,000 viewers on BBC2, a 3% share of the audience, according to overnight returns.
When the show was shown in the United States on PBS, the Los Angeles Times
said "They are big topics addressed with a striking lack of sentimentality, quite a feat considering the setting." The San Francisco Chronicle
echoed the British reviewers in praising the "brilliant script" the "subtle wonders at every turn" in DeEmmony's direction, and remarked that "It seems trivial even to try to single out one superb performance from virtually every other superb performance."
in the Masterpiece Contemporary strand on the 9th of November 2008.
2008 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2008. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
/WGBH Boston television play written by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Frank Cottrell Boyce
-Awards:*2004: Buch des Monats des Instituts für Jugendliteratur/Book of the Month by the Institute for Youth Literature , Millions*2004: Carnegie Medal, Millions*2004: Luchs des Jahres , Millions...
, starring Antony Sher
Antony Sher
Sir Antony Sher, KBE is a double Olivier Award winning South African-born British actor, writer, theatre director and painter.- Early years :...
, Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as DI Lestrade in the critically acclaimed television series Sherlock.-Early life:...
and Jack Shepherd. The play takes place in Auschwitz during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Jewish prisoners put God on trial
Lawsuits against God
Lawsuits against God have occurred in real life and in fiction. Issues debated in the actions include the problem of evil and harmful "acts of God".- Ernie Chambers :In the U.S...
in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is if God has broken his covenant
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
with the Jewish people by allowing the Nazis to commit genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
.
The play is based on an event described by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
in his book The Trial of God
The Trial of God
The Trial of God is a play by Elie Wiesel about a fictitious trial calling God as the defendant...
, though Boyce describes this tale as "apocryphal". According to Boyce, producer Mark Redhead
Mark Redhead
British producer, director, and occasional actor. He was the producer of Bloody Sunday and an executive producer of God on Trial. He has been nominated for several awards and won a BAFTA TV Award in 2000 for The Murder of Stephen Lawrence.- Biography :...
"had been trying to turn the story into a film for almost 20 years by the time he called me in 2005 to write the screenplay."
Cast
- Joseph Alessi - Kapo
- Josef AltinJosef AltinJosef Altin is a British TV series and movie actor. Altin had small roles in various TV shows and movies including The Bill, Peep Show and Babyfather...
- Isaac - Ashley Artus - Ricard
- Alexi Kaye CampbellAlexi Kaye Campbell- Biography :Alexi Kaye Campbell was born Alexi Komondouros in Athens, Greece to a Greek father and British mother. He was brought up in Athens. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in English and American Literature, Kaye Campbell went on to study acting at The Webber Douglas...
- Doctor - Dominic CooperDominic CooperDominic Edward Cooper is an English actor. He has worked in TV, film, theatre and radio, in productions including Mamma Mia!, The Duchess, The History Boys, and The Devil's Double.- Early life :...
- Moche - Lorcan CranitchLorcan CranitchLorcan Cranitch is an Irish actor.Born in Dublin, Cranitch became involved in drama while a student, and moved to London where he entered RADA in 1980. His first major role on British television was as Tim Healy in the 1991 BBC drama series, Parnell and the Englishwoman...
- Blockaltester - Stephen DillaneStephen DillaneStephen J. Dillane is an English actor. He won a Tony Award for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing.-Early life:...
- Schmidt - Rupert GravesRupert GravesRupert Graves is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for his role as DI Lestrade in the critically acclaimed television series Sherlock.-Early life:...
- Mordechai - François Guetary - Jacques
- David de KeyserDavid de KeyserDavid de Keyser is a British actor. He is the father of Alexei de Keyser, Pia de Keyser and Thomas de Keyser.In the mid-sixties de Keyser worked twice with the writer, actor and director Jane Arden. Their first collaboration, The Logic Game, was the first BBC drama to be shot on film; it was...
- Hugo - Agnieszka Liggett - Tour Guide
- Louise Mardenborough - Emily
- Eddie MarsanEddie MarsanEdward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
- Lieble - Andre OumanskyAndré OumanskyAndré Oumansky is a French actor. He appeared in more than eighty films since 1958.-Selected filmography:- External links :...
- Jacob - Blake RitsonBlake Ritson-Early life:Blake attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School, an independent school for boys in Barnes in West London on an academic scholarship. He then attended the University of Cambridge, where he studied English and Medieval Italian, Dante...
- Idek - Jack Shepherd - Kuhn
- Antony SherAntony SherSir Antony Sher, KBE is a double Olivier Award winning South African-born British actor, writer, theatre director and painter.- Early years :...
- Akiba - Stellan SkarsgårdStellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
- Baumgarten - Rene ZaggerRené ZaggerRené Zagger is an English actor, probably best known for playing PC Nick Klein in The Bill from 1999 to 2004. He has also made several guest appearances in Casualty, and Wycliffe.- Background :...
- Ezra - Dailly Hilaire
Score
The music for the film was especially commissioned and composed by Nick Green and Tristin NorwellTristin Norwell
Tristin Norwell is a British composer, best known for his music scores and record production. He has been based in London since 1992. He rose to notice in the mid 1990s as a record producer and music arranger collaborating with many artists in the late 90's...
.
Reception
Reviews were overwhelmingly positive. Sam Wollaston in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
found it "powerful and thoughtful stuff, with some fine performances by some fine actors - Antony Sher, Rupert Graves, Dominic Cooper." Remarking that Boyce wrote the piece from a position of personal faith, James Walton in The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
observed, "Yet, as each of the characters put forward a different view on the question of God and suffering, it was clear that he was willing to interrogate his beliefs with real ferocity." This was a complex piece, and "as the fierceness of the intellectual and emotional grip tightened, it was impossible to imagine any halfway-thoughtful viewers, of whatever prior convictions, not having a disturbing sense of their own ideas coming under sustained and convincing attack." In a long review for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Tim Teeman had great praise for the cast: "The performances were so strong it felt a privilege to watch the actors, among them Antony Sher, Rupert Graves, Stephen Dillane and Jack Shepherd." He also praises director Andy de Emmony's "brilliant, arresting sleight of hand... [mixing] the prisoners, naked and shorn, together with the present-day touring party in the gas chamber." For The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, Thomas Sutcliffe remarked on Sher's role as the play's smouldering fuse: "Every now and then you saw Antony Sher, davening silently in a corner of the barracks. Like a loaded gun in a Chekhov play, you knew he was going to go off eventually and that it would be significant when he did, and indeed it was his explosive inventory of God's biblically attested crimes that finally swung the judges in favour of a guilty verdict."
Opposite fierce competition from the much-trailed, eagerly awaited debut episode of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's four-part time travel fantasy series, Lost in Austen
Lost in Austen
Lost in Austen is a four-part 2008 British television series for the ITV network, written by Guy Andrews as a fantasy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...
, and an episode of the BBC's celebrity genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are?, featuring Esther Rantzen
Esther Rantzen
Esther Louise Rantzen CBE is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for presenting the BBC television series That's Life!, and for her work in various charitable causes. She is founder of the child protection charity ChildLine, and also advocates the work of the Burma...
, God on Trial attracted 700,000 viewers on BBC2, a 3% share of the audience, according to overnight returns.
When the show was shown in the United States on PBS, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said "They are big topics addressed with a striking lack of sentimentality, quite a feat considering the setting." The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
echoed the British reviewers in praising the "brilliant script" the "subtle wonders at every turn" in DeEmmony's direction, and remarked that "It seems trivial even to try to single out one superb performance from virtually every other superb performance."
Distribution
God on Trial aired on BBC2 on Wednesday the 3rd of September 2008 and on PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in the Masterpiece Contemporary strand on the 9th of November 2008.