Douglas Henshall played the role of Satan in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis at The Almeida Theatre in Islington from March 28th -May 10th 2008.
In The The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, the action of the play takes place in a present-day courtroom in purgatory, where a passionate public defender is appealing the sentence of Judas Iscariot, who has been condemned to an eternity in hell for the greatest betrayal in Western history. A parade of witnesses takes the stand, and we begin to expose the underbelly of an offense that had appeared indefensible. As each witness reveals his or her complicity - either from greed, hypocrisy, indifference or lust for power - we are forced to face our own culpability.
To emphasize the timelessness of the play's message, a two thousand-year-old story is told with a modern voice, creatively bending time by placing contemporary, recognizable "types," who use current references and poeticized street language, in ancient Galilee. Icons like demons, saints and angels are made empathetic, believable and accessible.
The Almeida Theatre states that the play is:
ia wildly funny court-room drama in which history's most infamous betrayal is dissected by forces of good and evil.
The play debuted to sold-out houses at LAByrinth Theater in New York in March 2005. It also won 5 Doras, when it was performed in Toronto at the Birdland Theatre in 2006. The Birdland Theatre are remounting the play for Spring 2008.
Douglas Henshall can currently be seen as Professor Nick Cutter in ITV’s science-fiction series Primeval. His theatre credits include The Cryptogram for the Donmar Warehouse, Death of a Salesman at the Lyric Theatre, Darwin in Malibu for Hampstead Theatre, The Crucible for Sheffield Theatres, The Coast of Utopia for the National Theatre, American Buffalo for the Young Vic and The Relapse for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His film credits include the soon to be released The French Film, Flying Lessons, It’s All About Love and Ripley Under Ground. His other television credits include The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, Dalziel and Pascoe and Frances Tuesday.
Douglas Henshall has said of his role as Satan:
"I used to play quite a lot of baddies but I haven't played one for some time. I never really think of the devil as the baddy - I'm always on the side of whoever I play."
(Evening Standard - January 28th 2008)
Of the play he says:
“I really liked the play's moral ambiguity, because I'm a little that way myself. It doesn't buttonhole you with what a supposed version of what good and evil, right and wrong, is, which is more accurate than society would have you believe...
The Devil says: I don't believe in good and bad, I believe in truth.' That's what the play is saying. Both God and the Devil are there if you want them.
“The thing about Judas is that unless he can forgive himself, it doesn't matter what God does.”
Could the play cause offence?
“It's a very spiritual piece, which offers hope and not false hope. It is quite human, not something from on high.”
(Times 2 - March 25th 2008)
Referance:
piscesmoon.org
The Birdland Theatre
The Almeida Theatre
Times 2 March 25th 2008