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The Patriot Ledger |
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THEATER REVIEW: ‘Judas’ puts a compelling new twist on Jesus’ betrayer By IRIS FANGER Since everything old is new again, and the success and controversy around Dan Brown’s novel and the film version of ‘‘The Da Vinci Code’’ has captivated much of the western world, it’s no surprise that playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis has taken on the figure of Judas Iscariot for his latest play, ‘‘The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.’’ However, as a good Catholic, educated in parochial schools, he has written a searching update that is never blasphemous, despite the overlay of hip attitude. Company One’s riveting and provocative production of the drama is set in a courtroom in Purgatory that feels more like an urban street corner on the contemporary mean streets of Everycity, U.S.A. Guirgis is a poet of the people, who delivered the aspirations and irreverence of the underclass in a hailstorm of raw language but clearly expressive ideas in his earlier plays, ‘‘Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train’’ which won a 2005 Elliot Norton Award for its Company One production and ‘‘Our Lady of 121st Street.’’ Although he’s moved the setting of ‘‘Judas Iscariot’’ to the spiritual realm, the vernacular of his characters remains the same. The large cast is led by a catatonic Judas, wracked with guilt and shame. He’s on trial for his dreadful deed, surrounded by a flock of his New Testament and Christian friends that includes a foul-mouthed St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine; a hip, sensual Satan, secure in his own powers; a blustering Pontius Pilate, and Mother Teresa, hard of hearing but wearing earphones to follow the questioning. The structure of the play follows the style of a conventional courtroom drama, where a sassy defense attorney tries to prove that Judas was the most beloved disciple of Christ, a toady prosecutor has an agenda of his own, an unsympathetic judge (who we are told hanged himself after one of the Civil War battles in 1864) bellows at everyone, and a determined angel guides in the jury, in between fly-by visits back to earth to look in on her grandchildren. What’s surprising is how well the metaphysical arguments fit in the mouths of these characters, despite the modern thrust of the dialogue, and how touching the dilemmas that continue to relate to the human experience (not to mention the fun of some of the jokes). Judas’s mother makes an impassioned plea for her son while Mary Magdalene describes her close relationship with Jesus in pragmatic but nonromantic terms. Company One is a small, fringe theater under the artistic direction of Shawn La Count who claims the showy role of Satan in this production but it has managed to field a powerhouse ensemble of actors for Guirgis’s play, many of them taking multiple roles. Under the sure-handed direction of Summer L. Williams, standouts include LaCount who orchestrates much of the action during his several appearances on the witness stand, Noel Armstrong as Cunningham, the annoyingly superior defense attorney, Mason Sand as the over-sexed prosecutor, and Cliff Odle as Pontius Pilate, the anti-Semite who claims he was just doing his duty, on orders from his superiors back in Rome. Raymond Ramirez as Judas Iscariot wins points for his defiant but heartbreaking silence through much of the play, finally breaking out in anger at the gentle, loving Jesus portrayed by Nael Nacer. Greg Maraio, who first appears as the supreme egotist, Sigmund Freud, returns at the end as the jury foreman, speaking an epilogue glistening with tears. While the play would be likely to evoke a second veto from President Bush, Guirgis has found a clarity of tone that is also respectful in its’ way to explore the many inconsistencies that have plagued mankind - and sent mobs on the rampage and armies into battle - since the founding of Christianity. The overarching question of whether or not the deity invented by mankind is a just God is explored, refuted, and ultimately left unanswered, even though a compassionate Jesus comes on at the climax to forgive the man who betrayed him. There can be quibbles with Guirgis’s dramaturgy, chiefly in overwriting some of the speeches so that the play runs a full three hours (with one intermission), but his talent as a playwright is undeniable. We send our thanks to Company One for continuing to present his plays for the Boston audiences. The Last Days of Judas Iscariot Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger |
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