The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

So before I move away and start my new life at university, me and my mum decided to go on a special holiday: traveling from the UK to the USA for a week. We originally planned to just go to New York City because its somewhere that we've both wanted to go for a long time. However, when I heard that some StarKids were doing a special play around the time we were planning to go I knew I had to at least try to see it. Miraculously my mum agreed to it and we planned a detour to Chicago for a day before we moved on to New York. I have to say, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made! The play made me think and I have hardly stopped thinking about it in the week since I saw it and I am so thankful to the creative team for bringing it into my life. As usual, my thoughts can't just stay in my head and so I am going to share them here.

All the actors were amazing but the first performance that really stood out to me was Reed Campbell as Judas, especially when he was being the 8 year old version. The mannerisms and speech patterns were just so perfect for the age he was playing, you almost forgot that this was actually a grown man. That against the seriousness of Judas in purgatory/hell just showed the range he is capable of and how amazing he is. Lauren Lopez was also fantastically funny in both her roles, especially St. Monica who quickly became one of my favourite characters ever. I fell in love with the sassy, potty mouthed exterior with the caring nature that was revealed when she was talking to Judas.

In the second act things got darker and more interesting. The introduction with Mary Magdalene was so good, I don't know what it was about her but there was something just special and spiritual about her that's just stayed with me. To me, the stand out scene of this act was the scene I have nicknamed "the Satan loosing his shit scene" which was exactly as it sounds really. It was amazing to see Joey Richter in a completely new type of role and that scene was where he really shone. Up until that point I realised I'd been seeing the judge and Cunningham as just storytellers, not really people as much as they were. I don't know why but it was kind of a big realisation for me that these characters were able to be destroyed as much as the witnesses.

After both seeing and reading The Last Days of Judas Iscariot I realised that it is actually about love. The way the apostles loved Jesus, the way Jesus loved the apostles and the way that love can save you. Something that really stood out to me in the disciple's monologues was the way that they loved both each other and Jesus so strongly. It was a pure friendship kind of love but that's the kind of love that gets shown least in the media so it was just interesting to see that for once. Judas refuses to accept Jesus's love and so he remains in hell. It is the lack of love that the members of the council have that stops them from getting into heaven. I think that that is the overall message of the play: love will save you if you let it.  

So when we come out of the play we're tired, our bodies believing it was 4am but I was determined to see and talk to Julia Albain before we left. Her writing made me who I am and I just wanted to be able to talk to her. I'd already chickened out of saying hi when we went into the play but when we came out and saw her in the bar I knew I had to just go up to her and do it. I was pretty much shaking the whole time I was near her and a bit afterwards but I managed to say more or less what I wanted to say and got both a picture and my copy of her book signed so it was good. Maybe she sensed how nervous I was because I think she was rubbing my back when we were taking a picture together. After we'd talked and she was moving on she asked what my name was as well which was really sweet and completely unexpected so that was just amazing to me. I would have loved to have been able to talk to her and have a conversation but I'm not capable of that yet and that's okay, I'll have another opportunity to thank her for everything, I'm sure. 

The best advice I got about this trip was from my friend Siobhan who messaged me the night before I left, ending by saying "remember in both New York and Chicago that you'll be back some day! So you don't need to do it all this time!" I don't know why, but I had never thought of holidays like that before and those words helped. They made me realise that, if I want it enough, I can go back to the places I loved and explore them all over again and that made a difference, I know I will go back to Chicago at some point and I'll explore it more, visit all the tourist spots and maybe even see another play by those wonderful goofballs who I adore so much. I'm so glad I was able to see Chicago and experience the amazing play that is The Last Days of Judas Iscariot performed by some amazing people and I know that one day I will be back in the Windy City and I can relive the play through its script however many times I want to.