Somewhere in my house, there is a good amount of red and white stripy fabric, which I bought to make a puppet-show booth. I love the concept of Punch and Judy without loving either Punch or Judy. My two favourite puppets from that story are the crocodile puppet, of course, and the string of sausages puppet, which, if I was a professor of punch, would become the main character. Here's a fact which surprised me when I learned it: in the classic Punch and Judy script, after escalating from everyday GBH, Punch beats up every successive authority figure until finally he kills Satan, ending the play 'Huzzah! Huzzah! The Devil's dead!'

But I don't want to talk about Punch and Judy today. I bought that fabric to make a booth for another puppet show entirely. I wanted to present Ben-Hur in cloth!

Our story begins in the Wild West. Ben-Hur isn't a Western, it's a Biblical epic, but it has its origin with a former Union General called ****Lewis Wallace was the governor of New Mexico. In 1879 he was the one who gave the order to arrest of Billy the Kid. This is largely irrelevant, but during that year and the next, he wrote a magnificent work of Bible fan-fiction, 'Ben-Hur: a Tale of the Christ'. It was the first novel to be blessed by a pope, and it was the best-selling American novel of all time, until 1936 when Gone with the Wind trumped all over it. In 1899, this tale of the Christ was adapted for stage. Movies had only existed for 3 years at that point, so theatre was where all the technological advancement and all the money was going, and Ben-Hur was *the* blockbuster to see. The chariot-race was accomplished live on stage with horses running on moving treadmills and in front of a rotating backdrop. There was also a sea battle, and many other ingredients, but everybody just remembered the horses.

Many films have been made of Ben-Hur, but the really good ones are 1925's silent epic and 1959's loud epic, which is the one with Charlton Heston and all the Oscars. I have a deep passion for Ben-Hur, and when I like something I always wish I'd made it. I fail to see how anyone who enjoys music, movies, or trousers can live without making music, movies, and trousers of their own. Other days, I fail to see how anyone could enjoy trousers. In any case, it was and remains my passion to bring new life to the story I loved. Obviously there's no way I could put Ben-Hur on stage. I get the terror in front of an audience, and I doubt I could rouse any actors to perform it, much less find a satisfactory solution to the horse problem.

But as a puppet show, yes indeed. That way sole responsibility would fall to me, and I could hide behind a sheet of muslin for the entire duration. I can make puppets. I can do voices. Around the turn of the century I was involved in puppet ministry at my church in Durham, which was primarily miming to pre-recorded songs and dramas, but it had given me the stamina to hold my hand in the air, and the thumb strength to do the really difficult part: opening the puppet's mouth by flapping the chin, not by flapping the rest of the head. (Everyone, when they start puppeteering, starts by flapping the whole head, but it's simply not how people talk).

I've already called Ben-Hur Bible fan-fic, and I stand by that. Like The Life of Brian, it's set during the time of Jesus, with appearances from the Magi and Pontius Pilate, but mainly follows its own protagonist. The difference is, Jesus is in Ben-Hur. He's the core of it, even if he's off-screen for three hours twenty-five of the three hours forty in the movie. And, in most versions, he doesn't have any dialogue. Ben-Hur is a story of bitter revenge which by Christ's grace slides into redemption. Hence the subtitle: 'a Tale of the Christ'. The crucifixion is a necessary ingredient

### What's the Plot?

So, Ben-Hur as a puppet show. Can it be done? For the moment, I'm not talking logistics. The question, when you adapt anything for anything is, what's the core, what's the plot? What must be retained and treasured? And can I do it in less than the movie’s three and a half hours?

Here is the story of Judah Ben-Hur, in the form that makes it into all important versions. Here's a rough breakdown in 6 or 7 acts

The Prologue - The Christ is born. The Magi adore him.

Act 0 - Messala the Roman and Judah the Jew as boys in Jerusalem. Nobody actually needs to see this bit, but it's the rich, loamy soil from which their relationship grows. I have a very strong image of what 'loamy soil' looks, smells and tastes like, but I'm not sure if I'm thinking of the right thing. I imagine damp Christmas cake, bursting with currants.

Act 1 - Judah's friend Messala returns a powerful soldier. The reunion: the bond of love between the two. But Massala is in politics now. Judah Ben-Hur won't betray his people. An accident ensues (the inciting incident) and Judah gets the blame. His sister Tirzah is imprisoned, and he is exiled to die in the galleys. On the road to his exile, a mysterious man gives him water and saves his life. Folks, it's the Christ!

Act 2 - Ben-Hur survives years in the galleys. His strength of character impresses Quintus Arrius, the consul who commands the ship. There is a sea battle against pirates. The ship sinks in flames! Arrius ordered Judah unchained, so Judah survives, and saves Arrius's life. Arrius takes him to Rome, where Judah is pardoned and adopted, and becomes a great charioteer.

Act 3a - Judah returning to Jerusalem. En route, he meets Balthazar, one of the wise men, who searches for the grown Christ, and he meets Sheikh Ilderim, master of chariots, who would like Judah to race for him, but Judah has his own agenda.

Act 3b - Judah gets back to Jerusalem. Reunited with Esther, the servant-girl he loved (who I somehow forgot to mention until this point). He goes to Messala and demands that his sister be freed. Messala doesn't know if she's dead or alive. Here's the twist: Tirzah is alive in the cells, but she has leprosy. Lepers are reviled and feared, so she's sent to the Valley of the Lepers, but she takes the time to see Esther the servant to (1) say 'bring me cabbages sometimes' and (2) say 'don't tell Judah I'm leprous. Tell him I'm dead'. Esther tells Judah his family are dead. Burning with rage, Judah vows revenge. He will race against Messala in the chariot arena, where Messala will die!

That's the first two thirds of the story, and the movie has an intermission at this point to go to the loo and eat a small tub of ice-cream from the concessions stand.

I'll summarise the above even more simply: Man and friend. Friend betrays man. Man and family are parted. The family fall low. Man suffers many trials (with Jesus cameo), but returns stronger. A well-meaning lie spurs the man on the bloody revenge!!

BAM BAM BAAHM! It's the second half of Ben-Hur, and the Entr'acte plays, which is like an overture for the second act.

Act 4 - The massive chariot race. For glory, for his people's pride, for cash, and to get revenge. In the movie, Messala plays dirty. In the book, Judah plays dirty. Big, big, big spectacle. Judah wins, Messala dies (or not, depending on the version). Judah is grieved to see the death of the friend he loved. But Messala tells Judah, with his dying breath, your family are alive and lepers!

Act 5 - With the villain out of the way you might expect the story to be over, but it isn't! Judah's anger turns to Rome. He will raise an army in rebellion. Esther urges him to go see this pacifist Rabbi Jesus, but he won't. Judah is twisted with hate - just like Messala! But when he hears Tirzah is dying, it forces a reunion. Judah carries her to see Jesus to get healed. But it's too late!! Jesus is on trial! (Judah realises this is the man who gave him water and hope). Tirzah finds peace, but not healing. Judah sees Jesus killed. BUT! When Jesus dies and the skies darken and the storms whip up, Tirzah is healed of leprosy and saved from death. Judah heard Jesus forgive his killers, and he abandons his planned violence. The end!

Several things are remarkable about this. Firstly, the crucifixion, and not the resurrection, is shown as the moment of salvation and hope. This is actually the moment of the movie Ben-Hur that did more than any other worldly thing to bring me to faith, as it clicked that the crucifixion was the plan, the taking of sins, not a failure on the way to the shining Sunday.

Secondly, you could probably do Ben-Hur all the way from act 1-4 without Jesus in it and end it there, but it would be a very hollow ending. Act 4 is the famous one, because horses, but Act 5 is what it's all about, and it's where the story both has and eats its cake. Judah gets his bloody revenge, *and* he gets to forgive. He becomes the action hero, but he also puts that duty down. It's worth remembering Ben-Hur was written by a retired civil war general whose country's scars were a long way from healed.

Thirdly, whether this is a puppet show or not, is there a way to tell this story without really stigmatising leprosy and people who have it? It's very much disability as curse, and healing as moral victory, which is problematic, but in the original tale it works neatly as a metaphor for both sin and pain being wiped away, and the running theme of sin leading to corruption and peace to salvation.

A curious fourth point: Lew Wallace was an agnostic when he wrote Ben-Hur, but came to faith later. He never joined a church because he didn't think he was good enough to take communion, which is a discussion for another time.

So, the plot again, short enough to express in a single breath:

Reunion between friends, but it's complicated. Accident. betrayal by friend. Exile! Rags to riches. Return. Well-meaning lie prompts bloody revenge. Horses! Bloody revenge. The truth comes out. Hero is becoming villain! Reunion, but at a cost. Hope - in Jesus - but hope is dashed. Self-sacrifice leads to healing, physical and spiritual, the end, amen.

How do we do that in cloth. It has the problem of being big. It is epic, and that fact shouldn't change. There are a lot of characters and scenes, but I've already cut it down to reach this summary. I didn't even mention Judah's mother, whose story is exactly the same as his sister Tirzah. Maybe she'll be there to give Tirzah someone to talk to in jail and in the leper camp, but I believe in theatre where the characters talk to the audience, because why, when you have a live audience would you ever pretend not to see them? That would rather seem to defeat the point. Having said that, she would make the thing much more likely to pass the Bechdel test, which it doesn't do to forget. My summary cut out Simonides, a notable character who seems to have a completely different plotline in every adaptation. The stripped down version doesn't even mention Pontius Pilate, who is an interesting ally of Judah and Arrius.

Absolutely vital characters: Judah, Esther, Tirzah, Messala, Quintus Arrius, Sheikh Ilderim, Jesus. You can cut Balthazar out, but he ties the start to the end quite nicely. He's there at the cradle and there at the cross, and seems the most able to give cultural perspective on things. Ilderim is hardly mentioned in my run-through, but he's a very charming character who loves horses, and it would be a tragedy to take him out. Besides, he's the mercenary link between heroic Judah and wise Balthazar

We do actually need Valerius Gratus, but we don't need to see him in the cloth. He rides his horse-by off-stage, and a slate falls from the roof, striking his horse. That's the accident that Messala blames on Ben-Hur, advancing his career by condemning without hesitation an old friend. Thinking about it, we could probably cope without ever seeing Jesus either. In the 1959 film, we only see him from behind, and never see his face. In the 1925, we only ever see his hand. Hands that flung stars into space. Crucifying a puppet is likely to look risible. That's six or seven puppets, tops, plus horses and boats however you want to do them.

There are a lot of scenes and locations, but I'm leaning more and more towards 'scenes' being unnecessary bit of structural orthodoxy. I'm starting to make dream-like videos and audio-dramas where there is no real division between scene and scene, just fluent incident. Let the audience make guesses where situations overlap. There are no scenes in the grave! However, puppetry ain't audio drama. So let's throw up a couple of overlays. The House of Hur. The Roman Garrison. The dusty desert. The galley and the sea. We need a raft at one point. The house of Arrius in rome. The chariot arena. The Valley of the Lepers. the Cross at Calvary.

That's about nine. The sinking ship with its many chained rowers poses a challenge, as does the chariot race. In the movie, the chariot race has a cast of thousands. It lasts 18 minutes, most of them full-on action. Rather marvellously, in the 1959, there's no music under the race. Just the thunder of horses and the roar of the crowds. The music only comes in once the tension breaks. As a method, I really respect it. Silent sweat and tension can be far more effective. However, I propose to solve my problems here with the opposite solution. Staging a chariot race, on the merit of visuals alone, is always going to be a flop. But I propose that this puppet show be a musical! Maybe not a lot of songs, maybe not evenly spaced, but if there are vast expanses to conjour, sea battles and clashing conflicts, songs can add a lot more, and what's more they can make the epic personal. Ben-Hur and Gone with the Wind are often called The Intimate Epics, because for all their scale, they're tight human drama once you get down to the core. Let Judah Ben-Hur sing. Let Messala sing. Really I'd want a Judah/Esther duet, but I'm not sure how to duet in a solo puppet-show. I'm disinclined to make the songs pre-recorded, because I believe in being responsive to the audience's energy, and in ad libbing, though I'd stand by pre-recorded backing music, even backing vocals. But the lead must be sung live. Puppets need to seem alive, and overwhelmingly that has to come from me.

One other point about which I am confident: I think the booth is limiting. How wonderful it would be begin in a Punch and Judy booth, but move outside it, take the puppets to the hostile outside, have water gush forth from the viewing window, or see the booth itself up and roll around the audience for the chariot race. That’s a moment for this puppet show that wants to go widescreen!

But most importantly ! At the crucifixion, at the moment of Christ's death, the entire puppet booth should be torn in two, top to bottom revealing all. Now there is no containment. If Ben-Hur emerges as a puppet or as a puppeteer, either way he is changed and liberated, and though Rome is not defeated, the world has been forever changed!

I think a Ben-Hur puppet show is possible. I surely won't do one, because I think the audience doesn't exist, and I already pour too much effort into shows with zero audience, but I think the concept's feasible. The important thing is, I could do a Ben-Hur puppet show. But for now, I get more out of discussing it than I would out of staging it. That still leaves the question of what to do with my red-and-white-striped fabric, and when I have an answer to that, you, dear listener, will be the first to know.