Celestial Melody: SONG OF SONGS

                The Magis Theatre of Loyola University/Maryland production of "Song of Songs" is not your typical play--in fact, it is not really a play at all, but a dramatic reading based on the biblical "Song of Songs," the synthetic adaption of several English translations from the Hebrew Bible: The Jewish Study Bible, New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Authorized Version, New American Bible, according to director Rev. John J. Conley, S.J.

                The production is simple and brief (about 45 minutes) staged in the diminutive Fava Chapel in Loyola's Hammerman Hall, a small chamber that serves multiple faiths and as an area for Zen meditation.

                And "Song of Songs" is a very "Zen" experience, as this poetic exchange of loving testimonials, a bride to her bridegroom and vice versa, is accompanied by brief interludes of music, courtesy of flutist Stephanie Lukin and comments from a chorus of "two to five women," according to my press kit, but in the Friday, April 9^th production, was a single actor, Mary Pat Kerrigan, speaking as the "women" of Jerusalem.

                As Rev. Conley explains in his "Director's Note," "Song of Songs is one of the stranger books of the Bible." It is lyrical poetry, often quite erotic, expressing the height of romantic love between a man and a woman...or maybe not.

                "Jewish and Christian mystics have long interpreted this soaring love song as an allegory of God's love for Israel, the Church and the individual soul," Conley's notes explain. 

                The connection to God may seem, to use a colloquialism, a bit of a stretch, since it's the one book of the Bible where God is never mentioned by name. Plus, consider such lines as these:

Bridegroom:  "Your eyes behind your veil are like doves, your hair, like a flock streaming down the mountain. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn lambs. Your lips are like a scarlet threat, your mouth is perfect...Your breasts are like two fawns, twin fawns of a gazelle."

                Following the reading, a discussion followed, where Rev. Conley explained that the religious allegorical interpretation may be one way to "cover" the erotic elements of this Biblical story, to make this anthology of love poems, perhaps read at ancient engagement or wedding parties, more acceptable. One thing is for sure--the imagery and metaphor are like high definition television, painting a vivid, vibrant, tangible expression of love...like a ripe pomegranate cut open, a phrase which appears more than once in "Song".

                Actors Alex Hewett (Bride) and Brian Oakes (Bridegroom) clearly relished the expansive buffet of words laid out in the pages they held before them. One can almost smell the cinnamon and henna blossoms, taste the wine, see the mountains filled with spice as man and woman move from desire, to meeting, to reunion, loss and search, to final consummation. Here is the Original Tale of boy meets girl, girl loses boy, both find each other and are finally one.

                Written and directed by Rev. John Conley, SJ, Knott Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Loyola, "Song of Songs"  will be performed Saturday, April 10^th at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 11^th at 3 p.m. in the Fava Chapel, first floor of Hammerman Hall on Loyola's main campus at 4501 N. Charles Street. The production is free and open to the public. A freewill offering will be taken with the collection being donated to Catholic Relief Services for their relief work in Haiti. A discussion with the audience follows each performance.  

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