John Cleese to cut crucifixion scene from new Life Of Brian stage show

John Cleese: I’ll cut famous crucifixion scene from new Life Of Brian stage show – because it has lost the power to shock

Monty Python fans may consider it sacrilege, but John Cleese plans to axe the song Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from a new stage adaptation of Life Of Brian.

The much-loved ending to the classic comedy film sees false prophet Brian and his disciples breaking into the cheerful song while being crucified.

But Cleese, 83, told The Mail on Sunday that the scene was now too ‘predictable’, adding: ‘It was shocking in 1979. It was absolutely astonishing.

‘People thought it was hilarious, they screamed with laughter. Well, nobody is going to be shocked now – the joke is 40 years old.’

Cleese, who has been working on the stage version for three years, will also ditch a ‘Romans Go Home’, graffiti scene written in Latin because the language is now so rarely taught in schools.

Cleese, 83, told The Mail on Sunday that the much-loved ending to the classic comedy film was now too ‘predictable’

However, he vowed to keep a male character who is mocked after he says he wants to be a mother, despite concerns that it could spark fury from transgender activists.

Python co-star Eric Idle, who wrote Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, is said to be unhappy that his song will be dropped from the show, which is expected to open in the West End next summer.

Idle, 80, recently tweeted that he was not involved with the production, leading to speculation that he and Cleese have fallen out.

Last night, Cleese said: ‘Eric is very keen to use the song because of course he gets all the royalties from it, and we don’t get any.

‘People do love the song but do we want to end with something that’s completely predictable?’

Cleese revealed he had shared his ideas with his fellow Pythons and not everyone was happy with the proposed changes.

He revealed that he and Sir Michael Palin, with whom he dined last week, had a ‘friendly disagreement’ over some of his plans. He said: ‘Michael liked the first half of the new script but was dubious about the changes that I had made in the second half.

Python co-star Eric Idle (pictured: left), who wrote Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, is said to be unhappy that his song will be dropped from the show

‘So we talked about that and I explained what I was trying to do.

‘He said he felt that the audience would expect a more similar ending and I thought to myself, “When did Python do things that the audience expected?” The answer is not very much.’

Cleese, who co-wrote the film and co-starred alongside Sir Michael, Terry Gilliam, Idle, the late Graham Chapman and the late Terry Jones, revealed he was still tinkering with the script. 

‘I listen to everyone and then I think about it long term and make up my own idea at the end of that,’ he said.

But he will definitely cut the fans’ favourite Romans Go Home scene which lampooned the way Latin was taught in schools at the time.

In the sequence, a Roman soldier, played by Cleese, catches Brian, played by Chapman, scrawling ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’ (Romans Go Home) on the city walls.

Instead of arresting Brian, the soldier proceeds to instruct him on his poor Latin grammar.

The scene is so well known it has its own Wikipedia page. But Cleese believes it will be difficult to replicate on stage and won’t make sense to modern audiences because Latin has largely vanished from the school curriculum.

Cleese has been working on the stage version of classic comedy Life Of Brian for three years

He said: ‘Everybody loves the Latin scene but 40 years ago people knew a bit more about learning Latin at school. They wouldn’t know what it was now.’

Cleese also revealed he had changed the beginning of the script to a ‘wonderful opening’ which Palin wrote 40 years ago but which was never used.

However, he insisted the character of Stan, a revolutionary who wants to be both a woman and a mother called Loretta, will be included in the stage version.

In the scene, Stan says: ‘It’s my right as a man. I want to have babies. It’s every man’s right to have babies if he wants them.’

Cleese’s character Reg protests, saying that it’s impossible for men to have babies because they don’t have a womb.

Cleese said he would keep the scene despite fears it may offend woke modern audiences.

He said: ‘When we’d had a read-through in New York with very good, very experienced actors, they were unanimous and told me I wasn’t able to do it.

‘There were predictions that we would run into trouble. But the Python fans over the years are not on the whole overlapping with the woke community.

‘I have every intention of doing it. I am going to keep it. But I thought their reaction was interesting.’

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