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What Would Judas Do?What Would Judas Do?

By Philip Fisher in The British Theatre Guide Posted on Saturday, January 20th, 2007

Stewart Lee is one of the men behind Jerry Springer – The Opera and so when he announced that he would perform his own solo play, directed by award-winning writer/actor Will Adamsdale, you could expect seats to go like hot cakes. If nothing else, there were likely to be a few fireworks and, with luck, blasphemy might be on the agenda.

The simple set also promises drama, consisting of little except a round table surrounded by chairs but topped by a sinister, hanging noose.

Lee opens proceedings by announcing that he is Judas and then explains to those who might be fooled by the beanie, scarf and high-laced DM’s that this is indeed the man who betrayed Jesus for twenty (sic) pieces of gold. The price is specified by a hoped-for theologian in the second row, who is rewarded with a bag of nuts (from the 98p shop by the tube station?).

Judas then runs through the story of his own and Jesus’ final week, leading up to a last supper that requires serious audience participation but at least offers everyone some cheap wine and a few loaves of bread.

The fifty-minute performance is delivered in the style of a stand-up routine by the chunky man, who covers almost every inch of the auditorium and involves and feeds the far fewer than 5,000 in attendance. As a performer, Lee seems very relaxed but this may have been a front as he seemingly got lost amongst his lines on more than one occasion but that might have been a deliberate manifestation of character.

The audience seemed a little bemused by the whole thing, with surprisingly few laughs at what ultimately became a deconstruction of the Gospels in search of laughs or at the very least some wry smiles.

If a top writer decides to attack this material, one might have expected something with more bite and shock effect. What we actually got was a series of sometimes amusing musings about an innocent man who got caught up in events but not the something special that we had all surely been hoping for.

Written by Philip Fisher in The British Theatre Guide on 20th January 2007. Filed Under: Reviews, What Would Judas Do?
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