The doors to the Gloria Maddox Theatre opening, audience members began to filter into a disorganized room which seemed to be more akin to a subterranean world than a stage. Literally stepping over the sleeping forms of cast members, we took our seats unaware that we ourselves were not just in close physical proximity to the actors, but also about to be caught in the thick of the story itself.

Written by Tony-Award-nominated playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is, in essence, a story about the trial of Judas Iscariot (now residing in purgatory). Judas, however, plays a very minor role throughout the trial, rather existing in flashbacks and anecdotes told by other characters. This in itself was rather disarming; throwing off completely any expectations I had for the play.

The show begins with the Judas’s mother, pleading for her son, but is quickly stolen by the character of Saint Monica, whose quick banter and liberal use of profanity left the audience gasping. Throughout the show, we meet many other participants in the trial, all of which bring the added complications to the trial. Led by two lawyers; one a woman with a troubled past, the other a bumbling and servile man leading the prosecution; the audience is introduced to a variety of characters who begin to shed light on the grey area that exists between the moral and immoral. Led by the actors portraying followers of Jesus, the play creates an image of a militant group of rebels, of the confusion and trouble that led people to Jesus. One of the strongest characters in the play, Simon, himself leaves the image of the lost soul that Judas Iscariot really was, and the troubled relationship between Judas and Jesus. But through all of the harsh and stark honesty, we still found ourselves laughing, at the completely and utterly soulless characters of Satan, a nearly deaf Mother Teresa, who at first indulges every expectation we might have for such humorous characters. But even these characters, which seem to relieve some of the seriousness of the play, are turned upside down in the course of the play. For even saintly Mother Teresa, (after being grilled by the defense lawyer), finds her own morality, if not being questioned, at least being probed by the audience. And through the somewhat lengthy extent of the play, these characters constantly evolve in our eyes, inviting us to question what we thought we knew about the story of Jesus Christ, and about the heroes and villains we are meant to recognize in it.