Review: HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING Explores The Connection Between Religion And Politics That's Fracturing The US

Saturday 2nd April 2022, 7:30pm, Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre

Under Craig Baldwin's direction, Sydney audiences are given a glimpse into the impassioned arguments that the American conservative Christian community have been making in favour of having their beliefs be the cornerstone of US politics in HEROES OF THE FORTH TURNING. Will Arbery's 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist play is confronting and horrifying in the degree to which some supporters stay firm to their beliefs but reinforces how the 45th President secured power and the devotion that led to the 2021 Capitol Riots when he failed to gain reelection.

Set at a house-party outside of a rural middle American town in Western Wyoming a week after the terrorist attack by a white supremacist on the peaceful Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in August 2017, Alumni from a rural Conservative Catholic College have convened to celebrate their teacher and mentor Gina (Kate Raison) being appointed as President of the college. It has been 7 years since the group graduated and they've gone out into the world with varying "success" but more importantly, differing takeaways from their religious education. Kevin (Eddie Orton), Teresa (Madeleine Jones) and Emily (Micaela Ellis) are in their mid twenties while Justin (Jeremy Waters), a 40-something divorced war veteran, was an older student in their graduating class

In the late hours of the night, a question of faith and politics sets off a series of lengthy arguments that expose the varying views that the quartet have, ranging from Emily's accepting understanding that not everyone has to believe what she does and differences do not necessarily make someone evil, to Teresa's decidedly black and white opinions that those that do not follow the church's teachings to the same steadfast degree she does are wrong. While Kevin is struggling to comprehend his own relationship to his faith and which argument to follow, Justin sits closer to Teresa's end of the spectrum, supporting her view, built on her understanding of the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory that suggests she and her millennial counterparts are the archetypal Heroes with a civic minded mentality that will bring society out of the "Fourth Turning" of Crisis as he suggests the school offer a course on guns and shooting.

While the United States is supposed to have a Freedom of Religion and separation of church and state, the political landscape, particularly during the Trump era, has shown that church doctrine has heavily influenced newer policy and when that policy hasn't been implemented in the timeframe the Right wing would like it, there have been scenes of domestic terrorism like the attack on the peaceful Charlottesville protest and the Capitol Riots. While many Australians would be familiar with the rhetoric of the extreme conservative Catholics, HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING makes their venomous argument even more clear, increasing the shocked dismissal by the majority if not all of the audience while also reminding them that we need to ensure Australian politics and religion do not combine and that we need to take measures to unravel any existing alliances with church doctrine that may have already seeped in.

HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING is a confronting piece, not aimed at converting the audience into Catholics, but rather to serve as a warning against blind-faith, religious segregation, and prejudice based on economic differences, race, education, sexuality, and gender. Strong performances all around, paired with incredible monologues, ensures that this is an engaging work, regardless of where you sit on religion and politics and serves as an additional warning to be wary of allowing church and state to become part of the same discussion and worse, government policy

https://www.seymourcentre.com/event/heroes-of-the-fourth-turning-2022/

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