Edinburgh International Festival: Lee Breuer's take on a Greek classic is one of his longest running success stories – and now he's delighted it's back in Edinburgh

Published on Friday 26 March 2010 18:23

WHEN Lee Breuer first brought his version of Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus to Edinburgh more than a quarter of a century ago, he says, the show didn't even get a review in The Scotsman.

"That was fine by me," says Breuer of his fusion of Greek tragedy and African-American gospel singing, which he is bringing back to the Edinburgh International Festival this year. "The Gospel at Colonus was a work in progress."

His memory is playing tricks, however.

The show was reviewed in The Scotsman on 26 August, 1982, by the late Sue Innes. She wrote that the production was both "illuminating" and "awesome."

"Aw, gee!" exclaims America's wild man of the avant garde, speaking from the Brooklyn apartment he shares with his actress partner, Maude Mitchell. "I never ever saw that. You gotta send it to me, even if it is 28 years too late."

Breuer can be forgiven for missing it, because the same year he was involved in three other shows: he was directing the American Repertory Company's Lulu for the International Festival; another of his own pieces, A Prelude to Death in Venice, was at the Traverse, and at the Assembly Rooms his show, Sister Suzie Cinema, was playing in tandem with The Gospel at Colonus.

"It was insane!" he exclaims.

Now though, the 73-year-old director is unable to conceal his delight at being invited back to the EIF.

Last year, Peter and Wendy, an enchanting, puppet-filled take on Peter Pan by his New York-based company, Mabou Mines, was one of the biggest hits of the drama programme. Mabou Mines Dollhouse, a deconstruction of Ibsen's drama in which all the male characters were played by small men, was also feted in Edinburgh in 2008.

Breuer says he is thrilled that, of all the work he's created – and he's made a lot – the redemptive The Gospel at Colonus, in whch the story is driven by a black Pentecostal preacher, is his longest-running, most performed, most acclaimed piece.

It has starred Morgan Freeman, run on Broadway, been nominated for a Tony award and a Pulitzer prize, won an Obie – an off-Broadway award – and an Emmy television award.

The Blind Boys of Alabama singers received Grammys for their performances in the production, which has toured to more than 25 cities worldwide.

Gospel has had this extraordinary afterlife, declares Breuer, thanks to one critic. "The poet and London theatre critic James Fenton saw the show in Edinburgh. He went absolutely ga-ga over it. He talked to The South Bank Show and they did a special on it, which James introduced. As a result of The South Bank Show, the production got so much energy we took it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and that was when Morgan Freeman and the Blind Boys of Alabama joined the cast.

"In 1988, we transferred to Broadway, but it was all down to James seeing it on the Fringe and loving it, although that production he saw was tiny. We had this little group called Fourteen Karat Soul, a bunch of doo-wop kids from New Jersey, singing all the music and only a few actors, although three of them are still in the show today."

These three are Kevin Davis ("Black Panther" in Forrest Gump), the gospel singer Jevetta Steele and her brother JD, members of the sibling group The Steeles, who have recorded with everyone from Prince to Mahalia Jackson. "Isn't it incredible all these years later that Kevin, Jevetta and JD are returning to Edinburgh with us?" marvels Breuer.

Fenton never saw the final production of Gospel. "I sent him a video tape that we made at BAM, but I don't even know that he got it because he became professor of poetry at Oxford University. I'd love to write him a belated thank-you note.

"Without James, The Gospel at Colonus would have died. Now, it's gotta be the longest-running piece in the world.

"When did you ever hear of a show running that long with the same cast? Anyone who hasn't died or is in Hollywood is still with us."

The cast this year includes the Rev Dr Earl F Miller, Bishop Carl Williams jnr, The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Abyssinian Chancel Choir, while Bob Telson, musical director and co-writer, joins the musicians.

The genesis of The Gospel at Colonus dates back decades. When Breuer was "a kid," he lived in Greece for a year.

"We took a little trip to Turkey and I wandered into the ruins of an ancient theatre where Greek tragedies were first performed. I saw an intriguing little pile of stones – and was told it was an altar. That's when it dawned on me, 'Yes, theatre is a religion!' For me, it's still a Dionysian cult."

The young, working-class Breuer, who was raised in North Hollywood, grew up with rhythm-and-blues and soul music. "I was a tremendous fan of gospel music and I suddenly realised that there was something analogous between the Pentecostal Church service and Greek theatre.

"Also known as the 'Holy Rulers' Pentecostals danced until midnight and got so excited that they'd faint in the middle of singing.

"They put themselves into a state of catharsis, going into a trance and speaking in tongues – they go from pity to terror to bliss. Just like in Greek theatre, just like in the tradition of high African oratory."

Audiences in Edinburgh will be amazed, he hopes, at how Oedipus can be told like a Bible story.

"Everybody in this show sounds like Martin Luther King or Jesse Jackson in full flow. No, not like president Barack Obama – a great orator, but his voice isn't 'church' enough."

&#149 The Gospel at Colonus is at the Playhouse, Saturday 21 August until Monday 23 August.

&#149 Sponsored by Standard Life.