Judas is on the docket for the trial of the millennium in purgatory, catatonic with guilt and unable to speak in his own defense. Fortunately, he has a lawyer ready to take on figures from Mother Theresa to Lucifer himself. This courtroom drama is vulgar and philosophical, hard-hitting and comedic, and full of characters that are contradictory but unlike Judas are quite capable of speaking in their own defense.
That last point is one of my favored criteria for all fiction: a range of characters capable of full-throated defenses of their viewpoints that are forced by circumstance and dialogue to make the hard case for themselves. At no time is this more clear than back-to-back showstopper witnesses: High Priest of the Sanhedrin Caiaphas and Roman Governor Pontius Pilate.
All the more remarkable, the play does not rest on its characterization; the debates show a remarkable intellect and a firm grounding in actual history, to the limited degree that it is known. The playwright, Stephen Adly Guirgis, is happy to speculate, particularly when it comes to the asides and the characterization of St. Monica, who takes after her namesake boulevard. However, it maintains a broader relevance by favoring the report of the four Gospels when other sources are not available and avoiding reliance on any esoteric revelations. The play shows its commitment best when, in my opinion, the second most guilty character in it defends himself by noting that the very plausible case against is notably lacking in proof. The playwright achieves this wisdom the old fashioned way, by making heavy use of great writing that came before it, incisively choosing from and at times challenging well-loved writing on relevant topics rather than seeking to start from scratch.
I fear that that last paragraph understates the appeal, but worry not those with little interest in theology. This play has absolutely no interest in how many angels can dance on the head of the pin or what exactly communion means. And in the end, even questions of theodicy fall away as the strictly human implications of the debates move to the fore.
Finally, all of this would just be a book review were it not for the excellent direction by John Vreeke and performances by the cast. I’d normally prefer to go through and call out performances by name, but we’re presently in Japan and have not had much time to write and we wanted to post this in time for people to go see it. However, in doing a last Googling to finalize this piece, I did see that Frank Britton, who memorably played Pilate, was attacked and robbed after a cast party. His performance was one of the ones that exemplified all I’ve said above and our best wishes go with him. As for the rest of the cast, I enjoyed the actors and actresses that were new to me and it is quite exciting to see returning faces often playing very different roles. I’ll be renewing my subscription without hesitation after this show.
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