A man Never Wrong,
Just Wronged
By Bruce Weber

"The Gospel of John"
Lamb's Theater

THE ARTS/CULTURAL DESK
Wednesday, April 16, 2003

A critic is on dangerous ground carping about the central character in the one-man show performed by Brad Sherrill, ''The Gospel of John,'' that is being presented at the Lamb's Theater, 130 West 44th Street, through April 20.

But you have to admit that strictly as a literary figure, he's lacking in complexity. A martyr in the making, he's never wrong, just wronged. He always knows best. And he's kind of insufferable about it, always telling everybody what to do, promising eternal life in exchange for complete faith in him and offering only a miracle here and there as proof that he'll hold up his end of the bargain. Not only that, for a guy who's supposed to be so humble, he makes some pretty outrageous declarations: ''I am the bread of life,'' for example. Any good dramaturge would say he needs to be made more sympathetic.

Jesus is not, however, your ordinary stage character, and ''The Gospel of John'' is not your ordinary script. Its text is the fourth book of the New Testament, and employing a work of prose on -- as opposed to merely adapting it for -- the stage is a curious endeavor that is worth investigating whenever it is tried. Of course this particular text is appropriate for Easter Week.

As theater ''The Gospel of John'' is a brave attempt, but it doesn't really work. This is in spite of Mr. Sherrill's best effort; considering the length of the script (about 20,000 words) and its many repetitions in phrase (''I tell you the truth'') and message (''My teaching is not my own; it comes from him who sent me''), his feat of memorization alone is noteworthy. Mr. Sherrill, an actor from Atlanta, where the show originated, is a poised performer with a subtle physical grace; his smooth re-enactment of the invalid bidden by Jesus to walk is touching because it is underplayed.

Still, as a program note acknowledges, Mr. Sherrill is a fervent Christian whose motivation here is devotional. His onstage manner has the slightly awestruck, semi-glazed quality of anticipatory rapture. And though John and the other apostles may have originally offered their eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life, crucifixion and resurrection as an urgent plea to nonbelievers, Mr. Sherrill's presentation is aimed at an audience of the converted.

This is a famously compelling tale, and Mr. Sherrill's rendition is at the very least instructive and certainly more lively and engaging than a Bible on tape. But it's a performance that never acknowledges the theatrical need to earn the audience's suspension of disbelief; the presumption here is that there's nothing to suspend.

If you don't already believe when you walk in, you're not going to find the show theatrically satisfying.

In what amounts to a recitation with a few simple props and some melodramatic lighting and music cues, Mr. Sherrill seems less to be acting in a play than conducting a Sunday school class.