Sympathy for the devil

Paul Van Dyck revisits the
fall of man with Paradise Lost

SATAN (AND SIN AND DEATH) IN CGI: Van Dyck

By NEIL BOYCE

“The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

The story goes like this: while lying on a beach in Ghana, actor and writer Paul Van Dyck read a very old poem and had an epiphany. Seven years later, he’s put the finishing touches on an ambitious one-man show that incorporates computer graphics, puppetry and multiple voices in a recreation of John Milton’s 17th century epic, Paradise Lost.

Developing the Old Testament story, Milton follows the creation of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to their expulsion and loss of Paradise—alongside the origin of Satan, an angel who led his followers in a war against God and was ultimately cast into hell.

But why a lengthy poem that was once used to torture English Lit students?

“I feel that the fall of man which Milton describes is not unlike the failure of the hippie movement in the ’60s or today’s hyper-driven destruction of the planet,” Van Dyck explains. “We seem to repeat the same pivotal mistake in various incarnations throughout our history. I wanted to use the sublime language of the greatest epic poem ever written, dust off its universal message and give it an upgrade.”

The Rolling Stones, the Age of Aquarius and the Hell’s Angels all feature in his adaptation—but did the work lend itself to a one-person show? “Not at first,” says Van Dyck. “I thought I would need a large cast and a couple of people who didn’t mind getting naked on stage, but once I had Jeremy on board, I definitely knew a solo show would be possible. He could create any character needed.”

Van Dyck is talking about his best friend from high school, Jeremy Eliosoff, a CGI animator who’s worked on Watchmen, Fantastic Four and other big-budget features. “He’s always looking to express his abilities in a more open setting,” says Van Dyck. “He created beautiful images. The tree of knowledge growing from nothing, the characters of Sin and Death—I have no idea how he makes these things but they’re absolutely magnificent. It’s a cool-looking show.”

Van Dyck won Best English Production at the 2008 Montreal Fringe for his strange travel chronicle, Sahara Crossing, and it was in Africa where he discovered Milton.

“I was in a little hostel in this little town when I came across it. I was immediately pulled into it,” he says, adding that turning the work into a manageable length was a happy challenge. “It was a pleasure, actually. The original text is about 200 pages—I’ve since narrowed it down to 17, going through it and picking out my favourite bits. Everything in the book is golden, it’s all beautiful. As painful as it was to cut a lot out, it was nice to be able to basically edit this wonderful work.”

As he delves into the moral of Milton’s story, Van Dyck says, “I’m torn. The work got a lot of flack for being sympathetic towards Satan, but I saw him as quite an interesting character. The initial hook for me was his journey—his loss of heaven is just as relevant as Adam’s and Eve’s loss of Eden: him not wanting to be God’s puppet, to have his own voice and sense of freedom. It’s that lust for something more that was not meant to be...it’s kind of sad.”

PARADISE LOST APRIL 2–12, THÉÂTRE
STE-CATHERINE (264 STE-CATHERINE E.)
INFO: (514) 284-3939 OR
THEATRESTECATHERINE.COM