Teatime at Golgotha

Spring-boarding off of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, Edgar Allen Poe’s Al Aaraaf, and the twenty-second Psalm, Teatime at Golgotha follows three stories set in three different times and places, and presents them so close to simultaneously that they sometimes get a bit muddy. Don’t worry though; that’s intentional.

Longinus has a lot on his mind. He’s just stabbed the crucified Jesus Christ–which has only served to exacerbate the mixed feelings he has about his job. Now, while casting lots for The Messiah’s possessions, he contemplates leaving. But neither the Roman General Quintus Caecillius Metellus Macedonicus (who coined the phrase “women: can’t live with’em, can’t live without’em”)* nor his sycophantic sidekick, Cabral, are too hot on desertion.

Tycho Brahe has a lot on his mind. Sure he spent a large part of the sixteenth century collecting the most extensive and accurate star maps ever assembled and created a model of astral movement that satisfied The Catholic Church in the face of helio-centrism, but lately it’s just been “party, party, party.” Now he’s dying from either a burst bladder or cold and methodical poisoning on the part of his assistant, Johannes Kepler. Either one. Brahe will spend the last couple of hours of his life arguing with an impudent Kepler and listening to his clairvoyant dwarven jester Jebb recall Brahe’s dreams for him.

Nicholas has a lot on his mind (noticing any verisimilitude here?). Having just murdered the dog of his roommate, Michael, as punishment for some rather incomprehensible crimes, he’s decided that more must still be done. With that, Nicholas bursts into Michael’s room, in which Michael and his girlfriend, Ianthe are in the midst of breaking-up. There, Nicholas holds them hostage while he decides what should be done. But, really, not much of what he says makes any sense. For some reason he’s gone quite nuts. And what he considers letting his friends off might not be exactly what they’re looking for.

These three stories are told intertwined; one breaking into another over and over, with surprising results. There are questions and answers in each scene, but the greater question is, what do these things have in common?