An Audio Adventure that Makes You Think

Jumping, hollering, and excitement are always part of the scene when a new Heirloom Audio production comes into our home, and, the case was no different when we receiveda 2-CD St. Bartholomew's Eve set for review.

My children were super enthusiastic to listen to St. Bartholomew's Eve and to discover where this latest audio adventure would take them. 

However, silly me failed to prepare them for what they would be listening to...

Pausing the CD to Discuss Truth and Bias

Shortly after beginning to St. Bartholomew's Eve,  my children's comments required me to pause the CD for a chat about truths and perspective.

Truths include:

• St. Bartholomew's Eve is set during the time of the French Wars of Religion - a brutal period when Catholics and Protestants fought in France.

• The audiodrama is an adaptation of a G.A. Henty novel by the same name.

• G.A. Henty was a Protestant English novelist and war correspondent from the late 1800's who wrote popular historical adventure stories.

• People are human, and, therefore, imperfect.  Throughout history, people of all faiths have failed to live their faith well at times, including Catholics. 

Perspective, too, is important to consider.  Of course, when the story of a Protestant-Catholic war is adapted from a novel written by a Protestant author from the late 1800's, there is bound to be some obvious bias.  

Deeper truths, however, are even more important.

My wholly Christian, wholly Catholic children noticed the bias in St. Bartholomew's Eve and were, to varying degrees, jarred by it.  However, after a brief chat about that, they were also swept up in the strong characterization, realistic sound effects, moving score, and excellent adventure that is always a part of  Heirloom Audio productions and was absolutely well done in St. Bartholomew's Eve. 

Thus, in the end, they began to see that although bias was inherit in the combination of the time period and perspective of the story of St. Bartholomew's Eve, deeper messages were ecumenical truths. 

Truths such as:

• You can disagree with someone without despising them.

• There is such a thing as "just war", but many battles are unnecessary and simply bring despair and death. 

• We live God's will for our lives by looking to love and accept, by building one another up, not tearing one another down.

• People in power sometimes abuse their power, working against God's will.  Always consider truth before blindly following orders.  Obey the King of Kings, not the king (president, minister, leader) of (insert location or group).

• Not every (insert faith, type of person, etc.) is good/bad.  Look for the character of individuals; don't make assumptions based on labels.

Moreover, the story made me think about the great suffering of Christians of all denominations throughout history and how, in our current world, those of us who believe in Christ often face increasing hatred and scorn.  We must not get discouraged though.

God sanctifies and strengthens His people even in the midst of terrible trials.  Hardships happen.  Families are broken.  Countries divide.  Individuals make horrific choices that spread ill will like wildfire.  However, God always prevails.

We Christians must think and talk about what it means to be Christian.  We must understand that popular culture and government policies can change and, in doing so, can quickly and dramatically, oppose our Christian values.  And, in the end, we must be prepared to be ready to do God's will, trusting in his providence.

Heavy stuff, I know.

Quality stories do that.  They move you.  They make you think.  And, bias or no, St. Bartholomew's Eve does just that!


A Dramatic Story that Makes You Think

My 11-year old daughter describes the story this way: 

This story is about a boy named Philip Fletcher who is from Britain and goes to France to help his fellow Christian Huguenots in their war for freedom of religion.

When he gets to France, he practices how to use a pistol and prepares to fight with his cousin Francois.

A little bit into the story, when he has already faced a lot of trouble, Philip meets Argento, a boy whose father had died because of he Catholics .  Argento tells Philip where the leaders of his town are, and, after Philip takes care of them, he makes them promise that they will not hurt Argento or his family.   

After Philip leaves, the leaders break their word.  In the process of escaping them, Argento loses another thing - his leg! 

When he gets o Philip, a peg leg is made for him and he joins Philip in peacetime and battles.

The Huguenots go to Paris for a royal wedding where a Catholic princess is to marry a Protestent prince and an unexpected attack takes place.

There are many battles in the story. In one, when the Catholics are coming, the Huguenots block gates with skinned animals.  Then, they use the skinned animals for food at a party.

I enjoyed the characters.  They had strong traits perseverance, loyalty, and determination.  

The story teaches people to stand up for what they believe.

Most definitely, the characters in St. Bartholomew's Eve are well portrayed by the audiodramas star-studded cast, which included Brian Blessed (Star Wars), Elizabeth Counsell (The Chronicles of Narnia), David Shaw-Parker (The Muppet Christmas Carol), Brian Deacon (Bonhoeffer), Andy Harrison (The Secret Garden), and Hugo Docking (Oliver Twist).

Also, without question, growth in virtues and faith is evident in the main characters.

Of course, due to the setting of the story, much of this growth is the result of battles, and the battles is what my 8-year-old keyed into.  

He said:

This audiodrama had a lot of battles in it.  I liked he battle scenes.  The sound effects made them actually sound like battles and the narration was good.  It was exciting, but not too gory. 

The story was a little bit bias, but it was good.  It was exciting and had meaning: People are silly about faith.  They should let other people worship how they want and should worship how they want themselves.  They should only fight when it's in dire need.  They should not kill innocent people.  God doesn't want that.

It's pretty good that a story can inspire a battle-loving 8-year-old to think such thoughts, huh?

It also had my 11-year-old thinking.

He is my most black-and-white thinker and is also someone who believes fervently in his Catholic faith.  So, he had some trouble with this CD, but still appreciated parts of it and thought about its deeper meaning.  

He said:

This story was difficult for me to listen to because of its bias, but I appreciated when they said not all Catholics are bad.  I also felt for the boy in it.  

Argento seemed to have very bad luck.  He was always losing something - his house, his parents, his leg!  He gained friendship with Philip...

I did not expect Philip's cousin to die in the story...

This time period was crazy and chaotic.  No one was living what they believed.  They were murdering each other because of the dumb mother of the kind.  Christians should make peace, not kill each other.

I love all the other Heirloom Audio adventures, but this one - nah.  It was too bias for me.  It only showed the "good Huguenots".  I am sure there were people doing wrong on both sides - people taught lies by Huguenots like people were taught lies by the stupid queen mom.  

I think Christians should not murder each other.  It breaks God's commandments.

Yes, my oldest struggled in hearing about the evil things Catholics did, knows that evil can be pervasive across all sides, and understands God does not want us to murder one another senselessly.St. Bartholomew's Eve may have been difficult for him, but it was a worthwhile story for us to listen to.  It made my family think.  It can be used a tool for all adventure-loving Christians to open discussion about past persecution of Christians - at the hands of people from other faiths and even from fellow Christians - and about the need to be prepared for whatever may come to Christians in our modern society.

I would recommend it to those who love historical audiodrama, with these two caveats:

1. Children under 6, and older children who are sensitive, might be disturbed by some of the scenes in the story.  here are scenes of death, etc., however tastefully portrayed.
2. Children like mine may need to be prepared for the bias of the story and guided to discern the truths of basic historical facts and deeper meanings to apply to the present.

Like all Heirloom Audio productions, St. Bartholomew's Eve is of to--notch professional quality!

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Wulf the Saxon