artsdepot, London
October 10, 2024
Ben Duke has passed the mantle of his God/man protagonist on to Sharif Afifi but the power of this extraordinary work remains. Paradise Lost, the inspiration, is spiced up with plenty of humour and the deep, dark heart beats strongly as Afifi portrays a God with all our human vulnerabilities.
The 75-minute work is a one-man show, but this is a man of many parts with the interface porous and the boundaries easily crossed. Afifi is adept at assuming each switch in role immediately and completely. His God figure, distinguished more by ineptitude than authority, is a revelation. He decides to make a universe of infinite possibilities, thinking the little people who will inhabit it will be eternally grateful. Ah, well! We all make mistakes.
Creating the universe, he starts with heaven which is soon filled with crowds of glorious angels but despite chatting up Lucifer things start to go wrong, and rebellion breaks out. Lucifer drifts slowly downwards to strains of Claire de Lune, landing at the bottom on the apt comment, “Fucking hell!”
Photo Zoe Manders
God gets back to the serious business of creating earth in dance moves replete with anguish, effort and deep thought. Piercing the interface with reality he is interrupted by his little daughter who needs to get to school. All parents can sympathise with trying to get the child, the lunchbox, but not the toy, into the car and get to the gate on time. It is in these brief reality checks that the fragility of his little girl is recognised when the father imagines the ‘what if’ scenario.
However, Afifi snaps back to the serious business of creation in a nanosecond. He is instantly recognisable as Adam in flesh toned unitard and strategically placed fig leaf. A red sock doubles as an effective snake head, Eva is formed from recycled bits of Adam and we question, ‘Is paradise enough? Or do we really want to know what life is all about?’ The second option wins, the apple is eaten and Adam/Afifi puts his clothes on.
The tone turns sombre and we investigate the human journey in this universe of infinite possibilities. Climbing onto a chair, like a naughty schoolboy, and under a torrent of water, Afifi relates a litany of human folly and error: the plagues, the genocides, the wars and the refugees. But the voice crying in the wilderness is the essence of humanity: the parent praying for the child. The crucifixion does not dwell on the grieving mother. It is the Father who cries out for his son to be spared, for another to hang in his place. And granting us a glimmer of hope at the end, the man celebrates a newborn, safe and well.
Paradise Lost is a work that leaves you stunned. It rattles along at a reckless pace, seeming to have no direction then hits the target with blinding accuracy. Afifi manages to slip betwixt and between the characters, juggling the humour and the deadly serious with great dexterity in a performance that, despite its low-key wrapping, is a tour de force.
Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) continues on tour. Click here for dates, venues and booking links.
Lost Dog also perform Ruination: The True Story of Medea at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House, London from December 2, 2024 to January 2, 2025.