SYNOPSIS

Our story begins in 1910 at Queen’s Hall in London Annie announces to members of the Theosophical Society that she and Leadbeater have heard from the “highest authority” that the child who is to become the World Teacher is already here, somewhere in our world. Leadbeater, with the help of his occult master Kuthumi will find this holy child and prepare him for his great task.

A year later, Leadbeater, accompanied by his hopeful apprentices, Beecham and Chumley, discovers a boy with an “extraordinary aura” on a beach in the south of India, and after examining the boy’s past lives proclaims him the future World Teacher. Annie confirms the choice and arranges to adopt Krishna and his younger brother Nitya. At a gathering of followers she formally designates him the chosen one, “Our Blue Dove”, and requires him to promise to remain celibate and obey Leadbeater’s hidden masters.

In 1917, Krishna, now a handsome young man, is taken with Nitya to England to attend university and to prepare for his Messianic mission. He is enthusiastically received by the growing membership of the Blue Dove organization and urged to fulfill his role as the Prince of Peace by stopping the war. However the war continues, he fails to gain admission to a university, is ridiculed by the press and begins to feel that he is “the wrong one for the job”. The pressures increase as he feels disconnected from Leadbeater’s masters and yearns to be free from Annie’s expectations. She demands that he be pure in mind and body and that he speak to the membership to reassure them of his commitment to the cause.

At a Theosophical Convention he is awkward and tentative and heckled by the crowd when he tells them he is “just an ordinary person”. In the ensuing bedlam Nitya coughs up blood and collapses, Annie hastily adjourns the meeting, and Leadbeater furiously brings through a message from his master while Krishna is distracted by the appearance of the glamorous Hollywood star Carolyn O’Neill. The first act ends with the future of the World Teacher very much in doubt.

The brothers are sent away to Ojai, California to convalesce and regroup and they both fall under the spell of the free-spirited Carolyn, who is fascinated by Krishna and charmed by Nitya. She sings in a Hollywood nightclub and Nitya declares his love for her, but Krishna cannot. When she visits them in Ojai, Nitya is ecstatic, but Krishna is in pain, “somewhere out there in the orange grove”. Carolyn is outraged when she learns from Nitya that being Blue Dove means that Krishna must be celibate against his will.

Alone under a giant pepper tree Krishna is tortured and desperate and afraid to be his natural self. Suddenly he notices the tree and the life around him and his mood changes and in the silence he realises that “the source of it all is within each one of us”, including him. Nitya and Carolyn witness Krishna’s “awakening”, and Krishna is filled with love for his brother, and for Carolyn. He resolves never to hide his love again. Carolyn reveals her feelings for Krishna and Nitya suffers his loss alone. Later the awakened Krishna celebrates his freedom and Nitya urges him to begin his mission as Blue Dove, to teach the people of the world the truth about themselves. Nitya insists that he is unfit to travel, that Krishna and Carolyn go on without him, and with his love.

At Ommen Castle, having heard of Krishna’s readiness to be the World Teacher, Annie and Leadbeater and company are preparing for his arrival. Leadbeater annoints Beecham as bishop in the church of the reborn Christ and Beecham, in an ecstatic trance, brings through the names of the apostles, including Annie, Leadbeater, Chumley, and himself. Krishna and Carolyn arrive and disturb the proceedings with their open affection for each other. Krishna dismays them all by saying that “apostles and bishops are unnecessary for my work”.

Aboard ship on their way to India for the inauguration of the World Teacher, Annie immediately separates Carolyn and Krishna, and Leadbeater, Chumley and Beecham threaten Krishna for his disavowal of them. As they steam through the Red Sea they receive a cable that Nitya has died. Krishna is crushed, blames himself for leaving, “all for this reborn Christ madness”. Carolyn grieves with him but Annie insists on comforting Krishna and forces Carolyn out of the cabin.

A few days later Carolyn challenges and defies Annie, and Annie responds by forbidding Carolyn from ever being alone with the World Teacher. Krishna looks on helplessly and Carolyn, feeling unsupported by him, stamps off in disgust. Beecham and Chumley tell Leadbeater that “the coming has gone wrong” and he warns Annie that unless Krishna accepts his apostles “there will be repercussions”. Just before they dock, Annie and Leadbeater give Krishna a final ultimatum to do as he is told by “the Master”, and Krishna responds: “I have no master!”. Alone and disconsolate, Krishna breaks down but Carolyn arrives to remind him of his purpose.

The inauguration ceremony of Blue Dove as the World Teacher is attended by the world press and Annie presides with great fanfare and dismisses Leadbeater’s fears of an impending disaster. Krishna tells the crowd of his experience under the pepper tree and they fall to their knees. He is furious. He refuses to be caged for their worship. He will not be the sacrifice. They are in a dream waiting to be told what to do. “You don’t need a World Teacher or a guru to experience the freedom of your soul. I’m setting us free.” And he disbands the Blue Dove organization.

Annie and Leadbeater are stunned as Krishna embraces Carolyn. “The power is not outside and over us, on a throne, in the sky, the true power is within each one of us.”

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