The Last Days of Judas Iscariot


The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a play by American playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis first staged Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on March 2, 2005 directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Plot summary

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot tells the story of a court case over the ultimate fate of Judas Iscariot. The play uses flashbacks to an imagined childhood and lawyers who call for the testimonies of such witnesses as Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, Saint Monica, Sigmund Freud, and Satan.

Productions

Off-Broadway

The original production premiered Off-Broadway in a Labyrinth Theatre Company production at the Public Theatre on March 2, 2005 and closed on April 3, 2005. Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the cast included Eric Bogosian, Liza Colón-Zayas, Jeffrey DeMunn, Yetta Gottesman, Craig muMs Grant, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Salvatore Inzerillo, Adrian Martinez, John Ortiz, Sam Rockwell, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Deborah Rush, Kohl Sudduth, Callie Thorne, and Yul Vázquez. It was designed by Andromache Chalfant. James Martin served as a theological adviser.

West End

The original West End/European Premiere was at the Almeida Theatre, and was directed by Rupert Goold, and it ran from 28 March to 10 May 2008. The cast included Amanda Boxer, Doña Croll, Corey Johnson, John Macmillan, Susan Lynch, Mark Lockyer, Jessika Williams, Poppy Miller, Ron Cephas Jones, Shane Attwooll, Joseph Mawle, Josh Cohen, Gawn Grainger, Douglas Henshall and Edward Hogg. It was designed by Anthony Ward.

Barbican Centre

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot had a short run at the Barbican Centre's Milton Court Theatre in October 2018, directed by Wyn Jones. The cast included Kristina Tonteri-Young, Matthew Nikitow, Laurel Waghorn, Uri Levy, Jordan Angell, Dan Hazel. The designer was Libby Watson, with Lewis Hannaby as lighting designer and Ben Hagle as sound designer.

Reception

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was received fairly positively. Curtain Up gave it a positive review, specially mentioning Eric Bogosian's portrayal of Satan. NY Mag however said that for $50 a ticket, "LAB might eventually want to put forth a finished product."
The original West End production was met with almost unanimously positive reviews, The Hollywood Reporter calling it "funny, profound and wildly entertaining", praising "sensational performances". Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph starting his review with "it's hard to know where to begin with this astonishing play that knocked me for six at the Almeida", and finishing with "Guirgis and Goold have a sensational hit on their hands." Times Online however gave it 3 stars out of 5, saying "too much New York, maybe. One doesn’t want an earnestly pious, reverential play. But do we want one which tries to make big, big issues palatable by coating them not with sugar but, at times, with bubblegum?"