Photo: morningstarproductions.org
Morning Star Productions' Father Brown
Morning Star Productions' Father Brown
A priest who plays detective on the side of his ministerial duties has become an ongoing source of laughs for a Milwaukee theater company and its audiences.
“This is the fourth Father Brown show we have done,” explains playwright Mary Atwood of Morning Star Productions’ The Resurrection of Father Brown. The latest in the company’s series of plays based on the character originated by English author G.K. Chesterton premieres for a series of performances at 5 p.m. Friday, March 3 at The Kneeland-Walker Mansion (7406 Hillcrest Drive, Wauwatosa).
After commencing Morning Star’s series of adaptations in 2019 with A Father Brown Mystery and following up with The Return of Father Brown and Father Brown Rides Again, “I thought there was no other place to go with titles after that,” Atwood laments. “But actually, I found a Father Brown story called “The Resurrection of Father Brown,” so the script was based on that story with a lot of interpretation!”
Among Atwood’s interpolations in her previous interpretations of Chesterton’s stories were the sitcom characters of Gilligan's Island (as the seven deadly sins) and the suspects in the board game Clue. For Resurrection, the characters come from “from the old fortune telling rhyme—'Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief, Doctor, Lawyer, Merchant, Chief,’” Atwood explains. In Resurrection, the chief is a local cop.
Plus “The story unfolds as a reference to Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians and Conan Doyle's The Five Orange Pips,” Atwood adds. “Our family are mystery buffs and so these plays are second nature to write. This last one has by far the most intricate set of clues and is very fun and challenging.”
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Kooky Characters
Where the fun of figuring out who committed a murder becomes funny is in the characters surrounding the crime. As Atwood says of her writing and a driving elemnt of Resurrection's plot, “The characters are humorous in their extreme actions and emotions. They are all kind of kooky in their greed for the inheritance money. They are classic 1950s film noir types which bring a smirk or a smile: the blonde bombshell merchant who owns the Booty Boutique in Wauwatosa, the cocky punk thief who displays his bravado about working with the mob, the druggie bag lady who lives on the street, the tough, female police chief who blusters that she never took kickbacks from the deceased."
As with most of the company’s offerings in recent years, there is an internative element to engage attendees. "The audience members must make an accusation as to who is the culprit of the crime in order to win free tickets," Atwood says. Because of Morning Star's aim to produce theater appropriate for a broad range of ages, “We have a lot of families who come and enjoy making accusations together. We only hint at the more questionable behavior of the characters, so the kids won't be traumatized. They tend to guess the culprit by how guilty they seem rather than analyzing clues. It's just plain good fun,” she says.
Amid the hilarity, just as with all of the productions Atwood and her husband, Morning Star’s artistic director, have helmed, there’s a spiritual motivation at play. “The plays we have done always had a worldview which promotes morality and what we believe is truth according to a Judeo-Christian take on the world.” And though there’s no preaching or proselytizing in Resurrection, Atwood hopes those who see Father Brown's latest adventure come away from The Kneeland-Walker Mansion with the realization that “through all the crazy behavior we humans display in life, there is a way to sanity and joy.”
Of what seeing a play can offer, Atwood adds, "Well, there ain’t nuthin that can replace live theater, especially interactive theater. In Resurrection, the audience interviews the characters in different mansion rooms where they can ask questions, tease, and accuse the cast members. You have life between you and the players, whether it’s an interactive show or not. It's alive, happening in real time. No screen story can replace that.”
It's not quite a Resurrection preview, but here’s a scene from Morning Star's treatment of Father Brown Rides Again, with its characters transferred from the adventures of Gilligan, Skipper and their fellow shipmates:
