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Usher Nonsense Vol. 2, No. 28
THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT— A NEW PLAY BY STEPHEN ADLY GUIRGIS,
DIRECTED BY PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
A co-production between LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater,
Featuring Eric Bogosian, John Ortiz and Sam Rockwell.
With Liza Colón-Zayas, Jeffrey DeMunn, Yetta Gottesman, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Salvatore
Inzerillo, Adrian Martinez, Craig “muMs” Grant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Deborah Rush, Kohl Sudduth,
Callie Thorne and Yul Vázquez.
Through April 3 at the Public
If you ARE interested in a piece of theatre that makes a trial crackle right in front of you, then get thee
to this play. LAByrinth Productions are not to be missed.
Judas Iscariot has landed himself in Purgatory, and a new resident has decided to take up his case.
She aligns herself with Saints and sinners to get the case heard by a judge who never made it to the
end of the Civil War. In the course of “God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas
Iscariot.” the defense attorney and the prosecutor call the usual suspects from Judas’s mother, to
Ponitus Pilate to the Devil himself (was it type casting to give this part to Eric Bogosian?). But the
imagined outcome is not to be had, and Judas never takes the stand..
The case is not clear. Did he or didn’t he? And the witnesses are not cooperative. They are called
away from their lives, such as they are, to testify in case they thought was closed. Pilate was not
only a powerful man, he later became a Christian Saint. Caiphus was not only the head Jew – he was
a rich one as well. And the Devil, when called to the stand to testify, will make you pay – big time.
We learn the history of these characters as they weave themselves into this story. For most of us
who have grown up with the story of Jesus in our lives, this will be a history lesson as well as a flight
of immense fantasy.
The story is not without it’s holes and the cast is not perfect, but this is a company who swoops you
onto its shoulders and carries you along like so much light baggage. They block and tackle, they
parry, they wade across streams – and they keep you safe and dry the whole time. When the journey
is over they return you to your seat and join in the applause.
It’s what the theatre is meant to be on a good night. Rich and full and daring.
Best line of the night – the Devil’s of course: “Eventually the world stops rewarding potential.”
LAByrinth has no worries in this department.
©2005 by Tulis McCall