From the Fringe to the Fold

The Scottish Bible Society offers cash to performers who use arts festival to spread gospel

The Edinburgh Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, is famous for blasphemy. Past years have seen Jesus depicted as promiscuously gay (Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi), promiscuously heterosexual (Steven Berkoff’s Messiah), and stoned (Paul Wagner’s The God Show).

This August, there might be the most shocking depiction of all: an orthodox Jesus. The Scottish Bible Society is offering performers £1,000 (about $1,500) to be biblically correct.

“They could be enacting a Bible story … or might be offering a play that is tackling one of life’s great themes … that occupied the writers of the Bible,” says executive director Douglas Campbell. “But it must be complementary to our mission of making the Bible available in a language people can understand.”

Related Elsewhere

News coverage of the Scottish Bible Society’s offer includes:

Bible society ready for risqué revelations at the Fringe — The Scotsman (Apr. 7, 2002)

Wanted. Fringe act to spread gospel — The Evening News (Apr. 16, 2002)

The Edinburgh Fringe website offers a schedule, message boards, links to news articles, and other information.

- More from Ted Olsen

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