Joshua's Witnesses

Joshua's Witnesses is an absolutely amazing one-man performance which delves into the upbringing of one man himself, Joshua Bonnici. It was not a "normal" childhood because, as he explained, it was shaped by the beliefs and teachings of Jehovah's Witness parents. The audience was handed a list of Joshua's "sins" and we were all told that, at the end of the show after Joshua had described his sins to us, we as the Judicial Committee of Jehovah's Witnesses had to judge whether he should be "disfellowshipped", Joshua explained that disfellowshipped means excommunicated, shunned, ceasing to have any kind of relationship or even speaking to family members or lifelong friends made in the Jehovah's Witness community. He told us his sins were as diverse as lying, questioning whether blood transfusions were really unacceptable even if they saved a person's life, being to "showy", masturbation....it may sound crazy but Joshua explained to the audience all these things are strictly forbidden in the JW world and punishable by shunning. At the end of the show we, the audience, all found Joshua guilty of sinning according to JW rules and he should therefore be shunned forever more. How cruel is this religion?!

My husband and I both agreed this show was extremely powerful and eye-opening. Joshua first appeared by coming down a flight of steps with a very heavy door chained to him and his hands in shackles. He then managed to break free from the door and the chains, all very symbolic. He later used the door as a prop for JW door-knocking to explain how God's Kingdom will soon be here to save us from Satan and this wicked world, which I assume is all most of us know about JWs as they try to foist leaflets and Watchtower magazines on us. During the show Joshua enacted and spoke about how his sins had been dealt with while he was growing up. He had suffered the "spare the rod and spoil the child" method of childcare. It was all extremely emotive. Joshua writhed around on the floor and dragged himself back up the stairs, painfully slowly, as he enacted being a child who lied that his legs wouldn't work so he could get out of going to the JW meetings. The subject matter was dark, but the wonderful humour Joshua somehow injected into the show made it an outstanding piece of work. Hallelujah!

A very engaging, personal inside story.
Thanks for sharing, Joshua!