A REVELATION!
In The Beginning

In the beginning....was the word.

And nobody delivers them more imaginatively than Wildcard Theatre Company.

Only in the real beginning....there was nothing.

And so Wildcard's latest production, 'In the Beginning...' begins, with God and his angels, dressed in workmen's overalls, moving their suitcases into a twilight world, and then - nothing....

The angels stand there, twiddling their thumbs, Lucifer gets impatient. Then God starts creating, and the fun begins.

In Slough actor and director Andrew Potter's affectionately irreverant adaptation of the Book of Genesis, God declares, 'Let there be light' - and a globe is switched on. He creates water - and puts up an umbrella. He makes man - and gets it wrong as a monkey pops up; then Adam appears in all his nakedness, making noises and jumping on God like a frightened child.

When Eve appears and they begin to speak, it is as if you are hearing the first words ever uttered, while their innocence and playfulness makes their nakedness entirely natural and in no way sexual.

Innocence is a common denominator throughout this extraordinary production - everything is simple, everyone is innocent - but not all is right with the world.

When Cain kills Abel, although it is both beautifully chorographed while at the same time almost slapstick comedy, it is nevertheless chilling. After all, it is the first ever murder, followed by the first ever lie - and you really feel you are witnessing an historic event.

There are lots of original touches - the animals do enter the ark, but because of practicalities they are carried on in suitcases, Noah ticking them off on his register as each actor opens a case and makes the appropriate impersonation. There's a Keystone Cops/Benny Hill type chase as Noah and his children try and get Mrs Noah aboard, while the Great Flood is celebrated with an unaccompanied and beautifully sung gospel song as thunder claps and the rain pours.

Tara Hendry's original and inspired music is at times jazzy, sacred, amusing or, for the benefit of Fidel Nanton's wonderfully groovy God, calypso. And it is always beautifully executed, not least by Gillian MacGregor, whose expressiveness and talent for comedy kept the audience amused.

Matt Hebden and Peri Thomas not only excel as Adam and Eve but in a multitude of other roles - not least Peri's trusting portrayal of Isaac as his father Abraham prepares to sacrifice him, and her Welsh dialogue as the tower of Babel is built.

Andrew Potter's adaptation is a revelation.

He attributes the original idea to David Thomas, his drama teacher at Burnham Grammar School, but that was only when the seeds of his imagination were sown and his genius was allowed to flourish.

And I bet the Burnham Grammar School production didn't feature a cast of thousands - well, 100 beanie bunnies, to be precise!