The Return of Benjamin Lay at Finborough Theatre

The Return of Benjamin Lay got a lot of good publicity, not least a mention in The Guardian, so it was an easy decision to go and see it, especially at a modest £18 for being old.

I really miss the Finborough Tavern downstairs not being open, and no signs of it being so any time soon, but the amended routine of catching a tube to a nearby station, but not the closest, walking the area as a minor exploration before a light meal at Cafe du Coin worked as well as it always does.

Later, inside the theatre I saw some people with beers which I think they bought in a shop around the corner. I will have to investigate that for next time, especially if it is anything like as hot again.

On the way into the theatre we were briefly interrupted by a small group with cameras and recording devices who were asking everyone why they were going to the show and what, if anything, they knew about Benjamin Lay. I was happy to confirm that I was as ignorant of the content of the play as I usually am.

I have seen Finborough Theatre in several configurations but never like this, I did not even know that those windows were there! 

I have watched enough episodes of Antiques Roadshow to know old chairs when I see them so clearly this was a period piece. This, we learned, was a A Quaker meeting house in the 18th century where Benjamin Lay appealed to us to readmit him into our group after being expelled following an outburst.

During his appeal, Benjamin Lay told us a lot about his life and how that had led to his beliefs. In particular that meant the equal regard he had for slaves and animals.

It was quite a story, it started in London, included a lot of time at sea (the ladder was used to represent the rigging), a period in Barbados where he encountered slaves and then a move to America and the then British colonies. Along the way he got married and led a reasonably normal life, for that time and place.

The story was made all the more remarkable by Benjamin being barely over four feet tall and a hunchback.

Of course a good story is not enough to make good theatre but this was good theatre thanks to some good storytelling, notably from Mark Povinelli, who also has dwarfism. Benjamin/Mark spoke to us directly thought and engaged some of us with questions while making full use of the stage.

As a life story it worked very well and that would have been enough. Making it even better were the beliefs that Benjamin espoused, the abolition of slavery was the most prominent of these but he was also a vegetarian for similar reasons, "why would you kill and eat your neighbour?". He was an early abolitionist, hence his historical importance, and that is a cause that has largely been won.

Outside I was again approached by the camera crew and we had a longer conversation about the play and what it meant. I am a reflective thinker (I forget which self assessment tool told me this) and I prefer to let ideas stew and ideas to form slowly, which is one reason I write up things in my blog a few days after they have happened (the other is just being disorganised), so I hope that my half-formed immediate reactions were of some use or interest to them. One point I made is that despite being in a Quaker community, Benjamin did not use scripture to justify his views and, to me, he sounded like a Humanist.

The Return of Benjamin Lay was an interesting story with a moral heart, ideal for Woke Humanists like me!