God Only Knows
Malvern Festival Theatre August/September 2000, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guilford, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, , Royal Theatre in Bath, Richmond Theatre,  ending at Vaudeville Theatre, March-June, 2001 

Below, writer Hugh Whitemore talks to Nigel Smurthwaite about his controversial new play at the Vaudeville, 'God Only Knows', that tackles the thorny issues of faith.... taken from What's On In London.

In the fickle world of showbusiness, the playwright Hugh Whitemore has bounced back more often than Jeffrey Archer. Since his first stage hit in 1977 with Stevie, starring Glenda Jackson as the poet Stevie Smith, Whitemore has only written half a dozen plays. But three of them-Pack Of Lies, Breaking The Code and Letter of Resignation-were hugely successful, and he has hopes of his latest, God Only Knows starring Derek Jacobi.

Like the others it is wordy dramatic and profound. But the point about Whitemore is that he understands and accommodates an audience's need for the human touch. Even a theme as earnest as that of God Only Knows-is Christianity a meaningless sham?-finds him seizing every opportunity to lighten up.

The play took shape after Whitemore had spent a year working on a screenplay about the life of the present Pope, only to discover the film had been scrapped. "I was left with all this research and all these thoughts about religion and no outlet for them. I've always been interested in people's need to believe in things. I did sort of believe in God when I was young, but over the years its whittled away. Now I'd describe myself as an interested non-believer."

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