Playwright: Stephen Adly Guirgis
At: The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee
Phone: 773-283-7071; $20, $15
Runs through: May 4
There exists a despair so deep it buries one in a catatonic stupor, rendering its victims unreachable by even the most skilled therapists and potent pharmaceuticals. Blessedly, it's an emotional state most of us will never encounter. But Judas Iscariot was not so blessed, and it is his story—a tale of rage, anguish and harrowing human failing that Jefferson Park's Gift Theatre tackles in its galvanizing production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.
Director Kevin Christopher Fox displays a complex understanding of the unbearable grief at the broken heart of the material and a keen ear for the incongruous humor that pervades the piece—and make no mistake, this is a drama as rife with humor as it is with sorrow. And at the epicenter of a 16-member cast of hellions, Purgatorians , heavenly hosts and celestial beings, is the continually extraordinary Michael Patrick Thornton as the man who sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver.
Guirgis' dense saga boils down to a single, profound question: If God is all forgiving and unconditionally loving, why is Judas damned to an eternity of unbearable grief? And why do the others who betrayed Christ—and there were many, from Pilate, who as governor of Judea had the sole authority to order Christ's execution to Peter, the disciple who denied any knowledge of Christ once the Romans moved in for the kill—spared the awful fate and historical legacy of Judas Iscariot?
With a cast of 16 playing almost twice as many characters, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a wildly ambitious piece of work for a tiny storefront such as the Gift, yet they pull it off with a mighty passion and humanity. As Judas' trial unfolds in a corner of Purgatory called hope, the piece flies by as everyone from Sigmund Freud to Caiaphas the Elder ( Mark Czoske, whose astounding turn on the witness stand stands as one of the most angry, intense and astonishing monologues of the season ) and Satan ( Paul D'Addario in an award-worthy devilishly fine turn ) take the stand.
The trial begins when—armed with a writ from God—the whipsmart, gorgeous and—as we later learn—deeply damaged attorney Fabiana Cunningham ( Kathleen Logelin, aggressive and righteous in all the right ways until Satan ruthlessly reduces her to rubble ) goes up against the pompous, smarmy El-Fayoumy ( Benjamin Montague, unctuous in the best possible way and eliciting belly laughs with every line ) before the impatient no-time-for-justice Judge Littlefield ( Czoske ) to try Judas.
The show opens on an extraordinarily powerful note, as Judas mother ( Deborah Smith ) describes—in the most devastating terms imaginable—burying her son alone in an unmarked dirt pit.
The vast ensemble matches that opening emotional intensity throughout 'Judas,' from Liza Fernandez sassy, brassy Saint Monica to Laura Shatkus sad-eyed Mary Magdalene. And the final confrontation between Jesus and Judas, well, it's a moment that provides hope even within the deepest despair.