The leading lady’s voice was loud enough to give you whiplash. Saint Monica, speaking ebonics, was totally unintelligible. Judas Iscariot spent most of his time in a catatonic state. And so did I.
It was “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” a nearly three-hour “trial” of the man who betrayed Jesus, that raised some interesting questions and provided some questionable answers. These came from 18 actors playing multiple parts, representing everyone from Mother Teresa to Sigmund Freud to Julius of Outer Mongolia.
Stephen Adly Guirgis, who wrote this discordant drama, set it in a subway station halfway between heaven and hell. Robert Rothbard, who directed it, describes it as “laugh out loud funny.” If that’s what he was going for, it was obvious that the audience didn‘t get it. Not a lot of laughter in purgatory.
On the plus side, however, there were a number of well-written cameos rendered by exceptionally fine actors. Ronnie Marmo (who produced the play) as Satan, for example. And Thomas Evans as Caiaphas the Elder, head of the Sanhedrin, who brought a tortured rationale to his condemnation of Jesus. And, despite the fact that she had the vocal chords of Ethel Merman, Katy Jacoby did a fine, nuanced job as Fabiana Aziza Cunningham, the defense lawyer in Judas’ trial.
Danny Nucci, serving as the fawning prosecuting attorney, Yusef El Fayoumy, brought a smugly righteous gotcha factor to the proceedings. And Robert Mollohan, when he wasn’t catatonic, played a scruffy Judas with a frenzied fervor.
The courtroom, with the judge ensconced in a toll booth and his bailiff manning the adjacent magazine stand, was entered by a staircase from uptown, a red-lit staircase to downtown, and occasionally, from the U-train (#666) which dominated stage right.
And what did all these “witnesses” in the trial of Judas Iscariot have to say?
“If my son Is in hell, then there is no heaven!” said Judas’ mother, Henrietta Iscariot. “In order to hear, one must listen,” said Mother Teresa, and, addressing the defense attorney, “It must be hard to have only questions.”
“Hell is the absence of God,” said Satan. And a belligerent Simon the Zealot complained that “emancipation was our birthright” and “the Messiah was supposed to throw the gentiles out!”
As “the only man in Judea authorized to order the death penalty,” Pontius Pilate (Jerard Jones) was berated by defense attorney Cunningham for presiding over 700 crucifixions in the decade in which he served as procurator. Moreover, “You hated the Jews because they fought back,” she charged. “They were stronger than you.”
Noting, “history is a lie agreed to,” Pilate responded that he was made a saint in the Ethiopian Church in the year 584 CE.
In the end, there is much to ponder in this play, which ran way too long. Primarily, why didn’t someone weed out some of the many superfluous and easily expendable characters? Did we really need so many apostles, or nuns, or soldiers, or saints? It all brings back memories of the grammar school productions you attended in which each third grader had to have at least one solo, and when you were finally allowed to leave the auditorium you discovered it was the middle of next week.
“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” runs at Theatre 68, 5419 Sunset Blvd., in Los Angeles, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through Feb. 24. Call (323) 467-6688 for tickets and information.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 1, 2008. Read the original PDF.