Enlightenment

In Brief

With a week to find the meaning of life and prove himself to his brother, Tom finds a guru who sets him six tasks. But the tasks are inscrutable, the goal impossible, and the guru is determined to kill him.

Synopsis

Enlightenment is a story of Socrates' concept of 'an examined life'.

Tom is kind, intelligent, but prone to wishful thinking. His brother (Godfrey) is insecure, cruel, and materialistic. At the beginning of the story, Tom is dead. The surreal nature of the story suggests this, but this is not revealed until the end of Act One, and the circumstances of his death are not revealed until the end of Act Two.

The story begins with Tom finding a guru, Yuthumi, in the Himalaya. Tom begs to be taken as a student, explaining he must find the meaning of life in a month to prove himself to his brother. Tom explains to Yuthumi that if he can't achieve this goal, his life isn't worth living, and as he's wasted some time … he's down to a week.

Tom goes back in his mind to a pivotal event, the death of his father. Tom respected his father, unlike Godfrey, who despised him. We see Godfrey's antipathy to Tom, and how he blames Tom for their mother's death. The brothers fight on their father's grave. We then see a heated conversation where Godfrey goads Tom, using his words against him, forcing Tom to either find the meaning of life in a month - or face humiliation.

When Yuthumi and Tom arrive at Yuthumi's ashram, Yuthumi asks Tom to look deep into his mind to reveal his six tasks, the six lessons he must face, understand, and resolve, to head toward his goal. Tom asks Yuthumi if he is dreaming. Yuthumi replies, 'No, Tom. You will not be waking up in the morning'.

Tom embarks on his six tasks. He meets a group of nuns who represent the absurd and hypocritical aspects of religion. Tom must discard their bizarre notions but find within their teaching a nugget of truth. He meets Professor Rawkins. His task is to understand that while Rawkins exemplifies reason, he must discover what's unspoken. Tom recalls his last encounter with his aunt Phyllis, who represents close-mindedness and selfishness. His task is to recognise her as she is, objectively, outside the context and duty of family. Tom meets Helena, a gender-morphing, tantric sex practitioner, who represents a pleasure-focused shortcut to enlightenment. His task is to separate the real from the seductive. Tom recalls his last encounter with his brother Godfrey. The differences between the brothers is raw and exposed. Godfrey, forced to reveal a terrible secret, kills Tom, because he knows Tom will not stay quiet.

Tom embarks on his last task: he meets the witches. His task is to sift through their philosophy and take onboard the answer to his burning question: 'Should I love or hate my brother? Yuthumi and the Trees explain to Tom the circumstances of his existence and that he must recall the characters representing his six tasks and resolve them, one by one, and show us what he has learned. We see he has made great progress.

We return to the Himalaya with the roles reversed: Tom in the guru position and Yuthumi in the student position. They agree that Tom has had partial success, but this is insufficient, Tom must be reborn (to his anguish), into another challenging circumstance.

We end with an up-beat whole-cast song, where the lyrics reflect truisms from each character's perspective.

I've just finished reading/singing my way through your musical ... I loved it!

Tom is so likeable, Godfrey is so despicable and everyone has an Aunty Phyllis.

Your imagination has no boundaries - you entertained me, you made me laugh out-loud!