Gift's take on Judas has hard edges, but tender heart
Gift Theatre's "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" clocked in at 2 hours, 40 minutes. They were the speediest nearly 3 hours I've experienced in the theater in some time.
Watching director Kevin Christopher Fox's brisk, passionate production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' penetrating meditation on forgiveness, free will and faith, I barely noticed the time. And I hardly minded the close quarters at the Jefferson Park venue.
Much of the credit goes to Guirgis, who combines philosophical musings and Christian tenets with legalese and urban slang in a heady, fiercely written tragi-comedy, the hard edges of which don't entirely obscure its tender heart. Centered around the familiar conundrum -- if God is all powerful and merciful, why does he allow suffering? -- "Judas Iscariot" asks tough questions. And the answers aren't always pleasant. Yet the play is never less than riveting, thanks to the nearly two dozen dynamic characters, among them a gum-smacking saint, radical apostle, cigarette-addicted angel and a fisher of men who misses being out on his boat. And while Guirgis doesn't give them equal stage time, he rewards at least 20 characters with meaty monologues .
Fox neither overplays the comedy nor exploits the pathos, and he manages to draw out some of the more significant moments without disrupting the quick pace. As for the acting, it has intensity and candor. Moreover, in a 15-person cast made up of veterans (Gift ensemble members Michael Patrick Thornton and Paul D'Addario and Noble Fool co-founder Mark Czoske) and newcomers making their professional debuts (Neil McNamara and Syler Thomas), there's not a weak link to be found.
The action unfolds in Hope, a special section of Purgatory efficiently suggested by set designer B. Emil Boulos' painted backdrop, in the courtroom of Judge Littlefield, played by Czoske with comic ill temper and barely restrained hostility.
Littlefield reluctantly presides over the trial of the catatonic Judas Iscariot, played by Thornton, whose broken, ambivalent performance elicits sympathy for the despised man. For his betrayal of Jesus, Judas has spent the last few millennia condemned to the Ninth Circle of Hell.
Agnostic attorney Fabiana Cunningham, a convincing and impassioned Kathleen Logelin, argues for the defense. Representing the prosecution is Yusef El-Fayoumy, a slick, crowd-pleasing turn by Benjamin Montague. A flashy, sycophant, he hopes to score points that will get him out of Hell.
Guirgis fleshes out Judas through flashbacks and testimonials from unlikely supporters testifying to the character of the defendant. The parade of witnesses includes Sigmund Freud (Kenny Mihlfried, who also plays the puzzled apostle Thomas) and Mother Teresa (the unapologetic Lindsey Pearlman). The increasingly annoyed Satan (D'Addario, who loses his sinister cool in spectacular fashion late in the play) testifies twice while Caiaphas (a gripping performance by the defensive, defiant Czoske) and Pontius Pilate (a ferociously self-righteous Emmanuel Buckley) show up to answer for their culpability in Christ's death.
Other noteworthy performances include: Liza Fernandez's spicy, sassy Saint Monica; Evan Lee's radicalized apostle Simon the Zealot; John Kelly Connolly's tough-talking Saint Peter; Laura Shatkus' perceptive Mary Magdalene; and Deborah Smith's anguished Henrietta, Judas' mother and his sole mourner.
The attorney-witness confrontations generate the biggest sparks. But, of course, the quiet moments are the most profound: the poignant reunion between Thornton's Judas and the brokenhearted Jesus (an affecting cameo by Thomas) that exemplifies the paradox of faith and the delicately acted coda -- featuring McNamara's contrite everyman Butch Honeywell -- that exemplifies the pain of loss.
"The Last Days of Judas Iscariot"
3½ out of four
Location: Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Times: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays through May 4
Running time: About 2 hours, 40 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $20, $25
Parking: Street, metered parking available
Box office: (773) 283-7071 or gifttheatre.org
Rating: For adults, contains strong language