Professor David Peimer
Heroes and Villains: Jesus and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar
Summary
This presentation will look at how the famous musical portrays Jesus and Judas as hero and villain, and how binaries and the entertainment world combine to make popular musicals. Do they perpetuate stereotypes about Jewish people or is the musical merely a freewheeling set of catchy tunes about iconically known historical figures from an ancient story? We will also ask: did the musical almost foresee how myth/story feed our contemporary celebrity-obsessed culture or was it an ironic satire on “superstars”?
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.