“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” by Tony Award nominated playwright, Stephen Adly Guirgis, is a courtroom drama set in Purgatory where the play’s title character, Judas Iscariot (played by Joey Fechtel) is on trial for betraying Jesus (played by Dylan Twiner) to the Romans.
The trial, which is presided over by Judge Littlefield, (played by Justin Ison) brings in a myriad of witnesses and testimonies by the likes of such famous people as Mother Teresa (Melissa Fenwick), Saint Monica (Jordaan “Jordi” Montes), Pontius Pilate (Chris Martinez), Mary Magdalene (Helen Roundhill), Sigmund Freud (Raymond L. Williams), and Satan (Brenan Grant) just to name a few. The prosecuting attorney is Yusef El-Fayoumy (Stephen Scheide) and the defense attorney is Fabiana Aziza Cunningam (Valerie Brunetto).
The play, directed by Rob Berquist, makes a convincing philosophical and emotional case as to why Judas should be forgiven for his betrayal. It explores themes of free will, choice, regret, destiny and divine mercy in a setting of the afterlife where characters await their infinite fate.
This is an ambitious production, at least from a literary point of view, as it is rich in historical and Biblical references, and laden with heavy, somewhat pretentious, philosophical discourse reminiscent of the kinds of conversations one would have had in college. It is an interesting script, both funny and serious, but regrettably choc full of unnecessary and juvenile vulgar language. Apparently, everybody in Biblical days cursed like sailors and spoke as if they were from “the hood.” And although funny at times, — Jordi Montes’s Saint Monica was especially hilarious – I found that the excessive vulgar language undermined an otherwise good script.
However, with a running time of nearly 3 hours, the script needs some editing in order to shave off a good 45 minutes. Sitting for 3 hours in the uncomfortable chairs with rows that were way too close together in the dank, dark basement of the Ballard Underground where Ghost Light Theatricals is located was just a bit too much to handle for that long a time.
In terms of the acting and technical aspects of the show, I would say it was a mixed bag. Some of the stronger performances were given by: Brenan Grant, who played Satan; Jordi Montes as Saint Monica; and Stephen Scheide as the prosecuting lawyer, Yusef El-Fayoumy. Brunetto was a bit hit and miss in her performance. At times she was engaging and strong, but all too often she sped through her lines and seemed to almost run out of air in her high pitched persuasive speeches. And by and large, everyone could have slowed down a bit, articulated more, and spoke less loudly. It’s a tiny space and sometimes the voices became overbearing, especially the judge’s pounding of his gavel! He could definitely bring that down a couple of 100 decibals!
The set and sound designs were also hit and miss. There was an interesting attempt to project video and images on broken screens that were placed on both sides of the playing area, which was interesting, but the piles of wood and extension cords didn’t really make any sense or contribute in any significant way to the show.
Same for the sound design – it was composed of ambient noise / electronica music, which helped to evoke the “otherworldliness” of the setting, but it sometimes became a distraction when it overlapped the actors’ monologues, especially since many of them were so slurred and badly articulated in the first place. It would help to tone it down a bit.
In general, this is a decent show with a lot of potential. I think it definitely needs some cleaning up, and would play better in a nicer, better equipped space where the ethereal aspects of the play could be better rendered. But all in all, it was a pleasant enough evening of theatre.
“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” plays April 6-22 at the Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market St. It is presented by Ghost Light Theatricals. Website: www.GhostLightTheatricals.org. Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/ref/2184/event/222863