PRETTY GIRL

A PLAY that depicts Jesus as a gay man who is seduced by Judas and conducts a gay marriage for two apostles has been condemned by religious leaders as it prepares to open in Sydney.

The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, questioned the integrity of Corpus Christi and expressed his outrage at the "unhistorical and untrue" depiction of the son of God and some of his disciples as homosexual.

"It is deliberately, not innocently, offensive and they're obviously having a laugh about it," he said.

"It's historical nonsense and I wouldn't want to go and see it. Life's too short."

Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway said the play's creators had committed "a big enough crime" by neglecting to treat Christianity and Christian believers with more sensitivity.

"The ideas are offensive and really border on blasphemous. It's just completely fanciful and self-obsessive," she said.

The play's director, Leigh Rowney, is unrepentant. "I would be surprised if people bothered to protest outside the New Theatre … but if they did, bring it on," Rowney said.

The play, which will open at the New Theatre in Newtown on February 7 as part of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, provoked protests and bomb threats in the US. Death threats were sent to playwright Terrence McNally, who draws parallels between the rejection he faced as a young gay man growing up in Texas and Christ's persecution.

Rowney, a Christian, denied the play mocked Christ but said it would upset some Christians.

"I think it humanises Him in a way Christians might find difficult because we like to believe God and the son of God are ultimately divine and above all of us.

"I wanted this play in the hands of a Christian person like myself to give it dignity but still open it up to answering questions about Christianity as a faith system."