At Flea Theater, Five-and-a-Half Hour Bible Mystery Served With Dinner

Colin Waitt plays Jesus in "The Mysteries," written by 48 playwrights and with a cast of 54. Photo: Hunter Canning

There’s an epic vibe of World Cup-type proportions about the Flea’s production of “The Mysteries,” starting with the 48 playwrights who wrote it, the 54 actors who appear in it, the 70 or so suppers served at intermission every night and the five-and-a-half hour running time—equal to watching three soccer matches back to back. But although that’s a butt-numbing challenge, the action on stage and quite often in the audience’s laps is a tribute to how enduring the stories in the Old and New Testaments are and the youthful exuberance of the talented cast.

It’s also dinner theater and the Bible as you have never seen it before—the dwindling congregations of many a church might do well to take note of this contemporary, albeit ribald, interpretation of the gospels.

In medieval times, mystery plays were part of the church’s arsenal to indoctrinate the faithful through entertainment and strike the fear of God and the Devil into the wayward. Some original versions would last for 40 days, so the Flea’s take is relatively short, but it sticks pretty closely to the standard content of old-world mystery plays.

Starting with the Fall, we are introduced to the Angel Gabriel and the fallen angel Lucifer, played by two equally lissome and brilliant young women, Alice Allemano and Asia Kate Dillon. They compete for God’s affections by using a chorus of singing punk angels. God is played by the mesmerizing Matthew Jeffers, who is 4’2” and suffers from skeletal dysplasia. Dressed in a tracksuit and then a tuxedo, he warns that “Chaos is painful.”

At times, this huge experiment in collaboration looks like it might descend into chaos despite Ed Sylvanus Is­kander’s herculean directing effort.

A member of the creative team confided during the dinner break (geographically appropriate falafel and salad) that getting all the writers in line was “like herding cats.” In theory, there are 48 distinct gospels, each by a different writer. But in practice, writers were inspired by each other so that over the course of development it became less and less clear who had written what.

The first 90 minutes zip through the Old Testament. Adam and Eve (Kyle Hines and Alesandra Nahodil) appear completely naked a few inches from the audience’s noses in this small theatre. Noah (Peter Sansbury) is a tree-hugging environmentalist; Abraham (Matthew Cox) is a hilarious predecessor of the cast of “Deliverance” in duck-hunting camo; and all are accompanied by rousing songs arranged by David Dabbon.

The dinner break comes just in time but the thought that there are two more 90-minute sessions to come is not for the faint of heart. The intermissions are a chance to chat with the actors, who serve the food and are members of The Bats, the Flea’s in-house and unpaid troupe. (Only a small number of actors who apply for membership are accepted.).

After dinner, Part Two covers the story of Jesus up to the Crucifixion. There are fewer laughs but no less emotion with turns by Alison Buck as Mary, a teenage mother, a fabulous gospel choir led by Gabriel, and violence worthy of the current unrest in Iraq and Syria. The disciples build a following for Jesus with social media and Pontius Pilate is a cowboy. Luckily dessert comes as a respite (baklava and apples).

Part Three deals with the Res­urrection. Perhaps it was the ef­fect of this marathon, but the production seemed to drag a little. But there are still some gems to keep the audience en­gaged,  including the question, “Is this heaven? Not really, it’s Brooklyn.” To which an apt response might be that Tribeca is not Heaven either—but it’s heavenly to have such vibrant theater here.

“The Mysteries” is at the Flea, 41 White St., theflea.org, through July 14.