Name: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
ISBN: 9780571211012

Stephen Adly Guirgis

Set in a time-bending, seriocomically imagined world between Heaven and Hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a philosophical meditation on the conflict between divine mercy and human free will that takes a close look at the eternal damnation of the Bible's most notorious sinner.--[book cover].

A Play

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

kemi

JUDAS: You got a lot of fuckin’ nerve—

JESUS : —and you’ve got no nerve at all! Where’s your 

 in all this, Judas? You think you were with me for any other reason than that?! It was your heart, Judas. You were 

. You were my heart! Don’t you know that?!

Line

JESUS: —and you’ve got no nerve at all! Where’s your heart in all this, Judas? You think you were with me for any other reason than that?! It was your heart, Judas. You were all heart. You were my heart! Don’t you know that?!

JUDAS: All I know is that you broke me unfixable—and that I’m here … And, you wanna know when you delivered your message differently? At the Temple, Jesus—that’s when. And you were beautiful there. And you left there three inches taller. And we all saw it. I loved you. That’s all I did. And that’s the truth. And now I’m here.

JESUS: Judas—What if I were to tell you that you are not here? That you are with me in my Kingdom even now, and that you have been there since the morning of my Ascension and that you have never left?

JUDAS: Why … didn’t you make me good enough … so that you could’ve loved me?

okay so clearly written in 2005 BUT if u ignore essentially the first 75% of the play it’s good. got me genuinely tearing up abt judas at 12:30 in the morning ? the dialogue between judas and jesus is exceptional, but i wouldn’t recommend based on the everything else abt this play. 

Clara Gauthier

the part with judas and jesus was excellent and heartbreaking. everything else was simply awful and not worth reading.

Anjorin Molayo 

the last half was a slap to the face wow.

From one of our most admired playwrights, "an ambitious, complicated and often laugh-out-loud religious debate" (Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer) Set in a time-bending, seriocomically imagined world between Heaven and Hell, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a philosophical meditation on the conflict between divine mercy and human free will that takes a close look at the eternal damnation of the Bible's most notorious sinner. This latest work from the author of Our Lady of 121st Street "shares many of the traits that have made Mr. Guirgis a playwright to reckon with in recent years: a fierce and questing mind that refuses to settle for glib answers, a gift for identifying with life's losers and an unforced eloquence that finds the poetry in lowdown street talk. [Guirgis brings to the play] a stirring sense of Christian existential pain, which wonders at the paradoxes of faith" (Ben Brantley, The New York Times).

« it was your heart judas, you were all heart. you were /my/ heart. don't you know that? »

alright, i'm going to be honest i went into this with high hopes because i spent years seeing bits of the judas and jesus dialogues on social media and i thought 'oh great, a jesus and judas play that goes into their relationship!! how great!!' because if you know me then you Know but ultimately i was disappointed. first of all, i wouldn't have minded that the judas and jesus dialogue only took up like... 7 pages out of the whole play IF i had liked the rest of the play. but i didn't. i very much didn't, some parts i did but the rest felt vapid. it's a vulgar gospel, nothing more. so yeah, i'm disappointed but glad i got to the jesus and judas bits.

florine

« it was your heart judas, you were all heart. you were /my/ heart. don't you know that? »

alright, i'm going to be honest i went into this with high hopes because i spent years seeing bits of the judas and jesus dialogues on social media and i thought 'oh great, a jesus and judas play that goes into their relationship!! how great!!' because if you know me then you Know but ultimately i was disappointed. first of all, i wouldn't have minded that the judas and jesus dialogue only took up like... 7 pages out of the whole play IF i had liked the rest of the play. but i didn't. i very much didn't, some parts i did but the rest felt vapid. it's a vulgar gospel, nothing more. so yeah, i'm disappointed but glad i got to the jesus and judas bits.

enya

Why… didn’t you make me good enough… so that you could’ve loved me? 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

it’s been Hard to choose a rating for this book. the parts that were done right were exceptional—like satan’s second and last call to the stand, the final scene between judas and jesus, butch’s monologue, and some pretty funny moments. they make me want to give this book at least 4 stars, but i simply cannot. the play clearly deals with heavy themes like guilt, forgiveness, love, and the questioning of right and wrong and, overall, faith. i love how they were delivered through some characters; cunningham was one of my favorites, for little by little it becomes clearer why she’s so obsessed with earning forgiveness for judas; in a way, she is judas, and if god is able to forgive him then so will he forgive her.

some of the characters’ takes on what happened, their juxtaposed opinions, and how they express them—those are pretty well written and managed to move something within me. but then there were times when the comedy just wasn’t funny anymore but rather annoying, kind of anti-climatic as it removed me from the emotional state i was getting into due to previous dialogues and my own suppositions. some characters were straight-up unlikeable, with terrible “jokes” like el-fayoumy, and those might seem like the smallest of things to be wrong with a book, but when it messes with the essence and the core of the story suddenly they’re not so small anymore and ugh, i’m frustrated. i really wanted to give this 5 stars, but based on my feelings as they are right now, after my first read, i can’t even give it 4. i don’t mean to say this is a bad book or a bad play, but some themes could’ve definitely been handled better even if it had been through comedy again. some of the ‘jokes’ in this book were straight-up disrespectful and misogynistic and not okay. yes, i laughed. i did want to tear up at some point. it’s a gut-wrenching story, really. just… not the best it could’ve been.

lena

3.5/5

it’s been Hard to choose a rating for this book. the parts that were done right were exceptional—like satan’s second and last call to the stand, the final scene between judas and jesus, butch’s monologue, and some pretty funny moments. they make me want to give this book at least 4 stars, but i simply cannot. the play clearly deals with heavy themes like guilt, forgiveness, love, and the questioning of right and wrong and, overall, faith. i love how they were delivered through some characters; cunningham was one of my favorites, for little by little it becomes clearer why she’s so obsessed with earning forgiveness for judas; in a way, she is judas, and if god is able to forgive him then so will he forgive her.

some of the characters’ takes on what happened, their juxtaposed opinions, and how they express them—those are pretty well written and managed to move something within me. but then there were times when the comedy just wasn’t funny anymore but rather annoying, kind of anti-climatic as it removed me from the emotional state i was getting into due to previous dialogues and my own suppositions. some characters were straight-up unlikeable, with terrible “jokes” like el-fayoumy, and those might seem like the smallest of things to be wrong with a book, but when it messes with the essence and the core of the story suddenly they’re not so small anymore and ugh, i’m frustrated. i really wanted to give this 5 stars, but based on my feelings as they are right now, after my first read, i can’t even give it 4. i don’t mean to say this is a bad book or a bad play, but some themes could’ve definitely been handled better even if it had been through comedy again. some of the ‘jokes’ in this book were straight-up disrespectful and misogynistic and not okay. yes, i laughed. i did want to tear up at some point. it’s a gut-wrenching story, really. just… not the best it could’ve been.

i would be lying if i said i read this for any reason that wasn't the heartbreaking interaction between jesus and judas. guirgis has a fascinating way with dialogue that made me laugh and tear up. i was entertained, but also a bit befuddled? if i could give it 3.25 i would, as a treat :)

juno

Margaret McFarlane

nair

JESUS :—and you’ve got no nerve at all! Where’s your heart in all this, Judas? You think you were with me for any other reason than that?! It was your heart, Judas. You were all heart. You were my heart! Don’t you know that?!

illa

every day i think about why didn't you make me good enough so that you could've loved me?

Sophie

THE STORY: Set in a time-bending, darkly comic world between heaven and hell, THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT reexamines the plight and fate of the New Testament's most infamous and unexplained sinner.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot A Play

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