This Christian Life

Word on the Street

First off, nothing… but God. No light, no time, no substance, no matter. Second off, God says the word and WHAP! Stuff everywhere! — Genesis 1:1

Someone handed me a CD called “The Essential Word on the Street” (@amazon) the other day. It’s one of the most creative tellings of the Bible I’ve ever heard. But it’s not just a reading of scripture, it’s a drama. Rob Lacey, the author, essentially performs a monologue of a dramatized version of the whole bible.

The stories, poetry and music of Scripture come alive as never before in this 75-minute performance based on the award-winning book the word on the street by British actor Rob Lacey. Inspired by his critically acclaimed show—the Bible as performance art—Lacey’s vivid retelling of Scripture demonstrates that Scripture is packed full of stories/poems/images that resonate with the big issues of today. Bible stories are retold as mini-blockbusters, psalms as song lyrics, epistles as emails and Revelation as virtual reality.

It sounded interesting and with 50,000 units sold, I figured I’d give it a listen. So I popped it in my iTunes player only to discover it isn’t on the CDDB. Huh? 50,000 sold and it’s not on the CDDB? That struck me a little odd for being touted as “postmodern.”