A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DEICIDE is a humorous look at what might happen if Lucifer, in the form of a scantily clad Catholic school girl named Lucy, was trying to locate and kill God. Do not worry; this is not nearly as offensive as it sounds. Unfortunately, neither is it as coherent as it could be, nor does it ultimately deliver on the great comic potential it hints at. This was a disappointment, as the premise is promising, there are very good elements, taken individually, and I have seen the company do better work in the past with 2004’s VAMPIRE COWBOY TRILOGY.

DEICIDE is constructed as sort of a comic book action flick set on a stage. There is ass-kicking Lucy, nerdy sidekick Mary, equally nerdy narrator Bob Moran, two vampire cowboys, and gifted Actor at Large Dan Deming portraying everyone from the Pope and Darwin to a curiously clad Joan of Arc, a puppet-wielding Jesus, and a good old boy called God. The actors are all fine in their roles, but often, especially in Lucy’s case, the writing goes wrong, and the dialogue does not work. Kudos to Qui Nguyen for some great fight direction, and to Nathan Lemoine and Robert Ross Parker for the South Park inspired short film that is run about midway through the play. It comes out of nowhere and for no particular reason except to garner laughs, but it succeeds in its silliness.

Perhaps A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DEICIDE goes most wrong in trying to interpret theology too deeply. The point, most of the time, is to have fun with it. That is the stance they should have stuck with all the way through. So, yes, this comedy is flawed, but do not count the Vampire Cowboys out. This is a talented bunch of folks.

- Kessa De Santis -

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