Prophets ★★★★★

The powerful personalities who lead cults, and the elements that make cults possible, have become popular fare the past few years on all the television streaming services, notably Wild Wild Country, The Vow, and Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, among many others. These limited series contain perfect dramatic fodder and almost never stray from a set formula: charismatic leader convinces people to do his (almost always his, rarely her) bidding in an isolated setting, inevitably ending in financial, mental and/or sexual exploitation for most of the followers.

Prophets, the superb new two-hander by Scottish playwright Jack MacGregor, also uses a cult as his subject matter, but despite the title, the play is less about the sociopathic narcissists who lead them than it is a spare, raw examination of the dangers of isolation.

Scottish researcher Kerris (Rebecca Wilkie, feisty and focused) is visiting Saint John, a remote British overseas territory located between New Zealand and Peru. She’s staying at a boarding house run by Joe (Xander Cowan, marvelous in multiple parts), a friendly but wary local fisherman who’s not quite sure why his guest has come so far to study the island’s coral. “You’ll be bored,” he says.

Soon Kerris will have found what she’s really looking for, starting with a significantly edited Bible left in her room.

Kerris: I read some of it. It’s full of this prophet guy. Bit creepy. All those new bits. Who wrote it?

Joe: God wrote it. Obviously.

Kerris: Oh? Does God self-publish?

Joe: Are you trying to be funny?

She’s not. And the more she learns about the prophet and the other 47 inhabitants of the island who believe the prophet can perform miracles, the more concerned she gets, and rightfully so. Bad things are happening, and are about to get worse.

Director Fraser Scott maintains in performance the tight spareness achieved in MacGregor’s script and ensures the play gains speed as it reaches its dramatic apex. There’s a bit of floor work that can’t be seen unless you’re sitting on the front row, but nothing too crucial to derail the production’s powerful, inevitable ending. When Joe asks, “Where are the angels? Why can’t I see them?”, you can’t help but wonder the same.