STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: PLAY - “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot”
Every day, there’s at least one court case mentioned in the news. Then, there’s the one that just has massive national coverage.
But what about when the surreal one that pops up? The one that can never happen because either the court system we know today wasn’t implemented at the time or the people on trial existed long, LONG ago?
This is The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Judas Iscariot is a court drama where the main action is set in Purgatory. A judge is presented a case titled, “God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot,” which, if the defendant is found not guilty, he will be lifted from Eternal Damnation. From there, the court calls witnesses such as Mother Teresa, Sigmund Freud, Pontius Pilate, Satan and so on.
Throughout the court proceedings, there are flashbacks to Judas’ (fictionalized) childhood, and vignettes of other biblical figures talking about their relationship with Judas.
The play, ironically, rarely has Judas involved at all. Rather, it is mostly about the lawyer defending him: Fabiana Aziza Cunningham. She tries to convince the judge and the jury that God’s actions against Judas, and everyone in general, is completely unfair.
“The real truth is that God’s Love for us is Conditional—isn’t that right?! You failed to meet God’s conditions, and he threw you in the trash! Judas failed—and he’s in a catatonic stupor!” she yells at her witness.
Cunningham’s defense is fueled from her own tragic life; she feels that everyone resented her, in life and in death.
This is a play that can be psychologically cathartic for people who just feels like their life has fallen apart. It can be a perfect representation of how they feel when they don’t know how to describe why the world is always against them.
I am writing this not in response to a production I’ve seen, but from the script that can be easily bought at a bookstore. It’s a different, but equally informative experience that I suggest everyone try at least once to get a feel of how it is staged from an actor’s and director’s point-of-view, and possibly what the writer feels when he/she writes the text.
Get a copy and take a look for yourself.
